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Council reviews draft 2026 legislative program; 1% sales tax for school construction tops priorities
Summary
At a public hearing, staff presented the proposed 2026 legislative program. Council discussed making charter amendments and a 1% local sales-tax for school capital projects the top priorities, and considered new language on data centers, invasive species funding, integrated resource plans, and local authority over cannabis taxation.
Acting city manager Melanie Zip presented the draft City of Fairfax 2026 legislative program at a public hearing and asked council for priority ordering and edits for the one-page summary circulated to legislators.
Key items in staff’s presentation included: sending charter amendments to the Department of Legislative Services (already submitted); proposing enabling legislation that would allow counties and cities to adopt an extra 1% local sales and use tax dedicated to public school capital projects (staff removed a mandatory‑referendum clause from the draft at council’s request); a request to expand Virginia Trees for Clean Water funding to include invasive species removal; language drawn from recent General Assembly bills for data center siting (site assessments and utility reporting) and for integrated resource plan (IRP) reforms by utilities; and proposed local taxing authority on retail sales of cannabis and related products (minimum local rate suggested at 2.5%).
Council feedback: Members discussed priority ranking and messaging. Several councilmembers urged placing the 1% sales tax and the charter amendments at the top of the one-page priorities that staff will leave with legislators; other members suggested K–12 funding should appear before the sales-tax item. Council members requested clearer, grammatically tightened language for the sales‑tax paragraph and asked staff to include charts or explanatory narratives when materials are distributed.
What happens next: Staff will incorporate council edits and circulate a revised one‑pager for further review. The city manager and staff will return the finalized one‑page legislative priorities for council consideration on Dec. 9, 2025, ahead of the General Assembly cycle.
