Fairfax City officials outline scale and timing of $220 million school bond; council to consider awarding design contract next week

Fairfax City and the Fairfax City School Board held a joint work session Sept. 2 to review financing and timing for school projects approved in last year’s $220 million bond referendum, with City Chief Financial Officer JC Martinez and Davenport & Company LLC advising on the budgetary and credit implications.

Davenport advisor Kyle Laux said the city and school board had provided him a list of priorities—Daniels Run Elementary School, Providence Elementary School and the Fairfax High School roof—and that Davenport’s role was to analyze those priorities and the likely fiscal impact. “It is not for us to tell you which projects to do,” Laux said. “That’s obviously the purview of the governing bodies here.”

The presentation reported that planning costs of roughly $3.0 million for the schools are included in the FY2026 capital improvement program and will be funded from existing CIP dollars rather than new borrowing. The high school roof, originally budgeted at about $4.5 million for FY2026, was delayed one year in collaboration between the school board and city to help balance the FY2026 budget; the school board chair said delaying the roof risks higher future costs and described that choice as “kicking this can down the road.”

Why it matters: Davenport and city staff stressed the scale of the $220 million package relative to Fairfax City’s budget and credit profile. The city holds a top-tier (AAA) credit rating that lowers borrowing costs, but taking on large, generational capital projects will push debt-service ratios upward unless offset by strong fund balances,…