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County staff recommend shoring up economic reserve as FY2025 carryover priorities
Summary
County budget staff proposed directing most of the FY2025 carryover toward reserves, capital and critical one‑time needs, recommending reappropriation of remaining ARPA dollars, $5.3M for IT and 65 positions overall while urging caution on new recurring costs.
Fairfax County budget staff on Sept. 16 presented their FY2025 carryover recommendations, saying a slimmer year‑end balance and rising uncertainty argue for placing more money into the reserve for economic uncertainty rather than new recurring programs.
Phil Hagen, director of the Department of Management and Budget, told the Budget Committee the county ended FY2025 with a general fund variance of about $124 million and a revenue variance of roughly 0.48% of estimates — the smallest balances seen in recent years. "This is our first opportunity to amend the FY2026 budget primarily by identifying uses for the revenue and expenditure balances that remain at the end of FY2025," Hagen said.
Staff proposed using $5.66 million to maintain the county's 10% reserve target, $14.18 million to the capital sinking fund, and reallocating the staff‑typical 20% bicycle and pedestrian allocation (about $9.45 million this year) into the reserve for economic uncertainty; that action would increase the reserve to just over $22 million. Hagen said the change…
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