April 7, 2009

Board Adopts FY 2010 Fiscal Plan for Loudoun County

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors today approved a fiscal plan totaling about $1.4 billion for the general county government and school system for FY 2010. The fiscal plan reduces both local and overall funding for the school system and general county government.

The Board set the real property tax rate at $1.245 per $100 in assessed value. Coupled with declining property assessments, this will result in a decrease of $347, or 6.5 percent, in the average residential tax bill in FY 10.

In response to the current economic and financial environment, the Board had directed the County Administrator and requested the School Board to submit budget proposals that would require no increase in operational funding, and also to provide options for further reductions. As a result of reductions made by the Board during the budget review process, both the school system and the general county government will receive significantly less funding than in FY 09.

In adopting the FY 10 fiscal plan, the Board of Supervisors reduced the School Board’s budget request by $14.6 million. While the school system will be able to use increases in state and federal funding, the school system will receive $16.6 million less overall revenue than in FY 09, including a reduction of $34.2 million in local tax funding.

The Board reduced the County Administrator’s recommended expenditures for the general county government by $12.5 million. The adopted budget includes funding for only one new initiative for the general county government – the implementation of the CASA program at the new Kenneth Culbert Elementary School in western Loudoun County.

Budget Summary

The FY 10 fiscal plan includes $1.1 billion for operating costs, including $762 million for the school system, $359 million for the general government and $10.6 million for the Comprehensive Services Act for At-Risk Youth (CSA). In addition, the adopted fiscal plan includes $149.9 million for annual debt service, including $111.5 million for the school system and $38.4 million for general government projects. The fiscal plan includes $58 million in FY 10 capital expenditures, $5.9 million of which will be funded by local tax revenue.

About 70.2 percent of the $869.6 million in revenues from local taxes will be used for school operating expenses, capital projects and debt service, while 28.6 percent will fund general county operating expenses, capital projects and debt service. The remainder will be used to implement the CSA.

The fiscal plan includes a countywide real property tax rate of $1.245 per $100 in assessed value. This is a reduction of 4.5 cents from the $1.29 tax rate proposed by the County Administrator, and an increase of 10.5 cents from the $1.14 tax rate for FY 09.  Because of a decrease in the value of residential property assessments, the annual property tax bills for the average homeowner will decrease by an average of 6.5 percent during FY 10.

The personal property tax rate remains unchanged at $4.20 per $100. However, due to reduced assessments, the average reduction in personal property tax is $52 per vehicle. On the recommendation of the Route 28 Tax District Commission, the Board adopted a $0.18 per $100 tax rate for the Route 28 Tax District, a reduction of 2¢. The Board also increased the personal property tax rate on special fuels vehicles from 1¢ to $1.00, and implemented a separate personal property tax rate on low-speed, all-electric vehicles, down from $4.20 to $1.00 per $100 in assessed value.

As part of its appropriation action, the Board established a maintenance and youth sports user fee, and increased several other Parks and Recreation fees for services such as facility rentals and the Youth After School program. Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues were appropriated to support the Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center and the Heritage Farm Museum of Loudoun County.

County Government Reductions

Some of the reductions in the general county government will be achieved through reorganization of the workforce for greater efficiency and elimination of positions that have seen declining workloads, primarily because of the economic slowdown. Reductions to the county budget also include:

• Reductions in force in the land use departments, reflecting the decrease in workload for building inspections and land use support;
• Closing the Animal Shelter to the public on Fridays;
• Reducing supplementary funding for volunteer fire-rescue facilities;
• Delaying the opening of the Brambleton fire-rescue station until FY 11;
• Eliminating front counter customer service positions across the county organization;
• Eliminating internal operations positions in areas such as training, information technology, budget management, procurement and capital project management support;
• Reducing funding for maintenance and repair of county facilities and information technology and telecommunications systems;
• Reducing the county motor pool fleet by 30 percent;
• Reducing funding for regional organizations; and
• Reducing funding for Library Services.

Capital Improvements Program

The Board also adopted an amended Capital Improvements Program (CIP) totaling about $1.37 billion for the six-year FY 09-FY 14 planning period. The adopted, amended CIP, which maintains compliance with the Board’s limits on new debt issuance, includes plans for funding eight elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, an advanced technology academy and renovations to one existing high school. The school portion of the CIP is $664.7 million.

The county government portion of the CIP, including land purchases for county projects and transportation initiatives, totals $701 million. This includes $260 million in transportation projects, which consists principally of Loudoun’s $240 million contribution toward the Dulles Metrorail project. Additional projects include:

• Fire and Rescue stations in Aldie, Kirkpatrick Farm, Leesburg and western Loudoun, and funding for renovations to fire and rescue stations and additional apparatus;
• Expansion of the county courts complex and the Juvenile Detention Center, as well as a western Loudoun Sheriff’s substation;
• Transitional and emergency homeless shelters;
• Townhouses, group homes and supported living residences for mental health and mental retardation clients;
• The second phase of the Dulles Multipurpose Center, Gum Spring Library in Dulles South, and renovations to county community centers; and
• Regional park and ride lots and capacity improvements to the county landfill.

Adoption of the fiscal plan came after three public hearings in February, followed by a series of budget work sessions held in March by the Board of Supervisors.

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Contact: Jim Barnes, 703-771-5086