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FY 2011 Budget Process Questions and Answers

The information below is provided in response to questions by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors during the FY 2011 budget development process.  Questions are researched by staff and packages of responses are posted regularly so check back for additional information.  To find word or phrase in this list, press CTRL +F, type in phrase and press FIND NEXT (choose UP or DOWN depending where your cursor is located).

All files are PDF

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FY 2011 Questions & Answers
Number	County-Related Questions	Number	School-Related Questions
1	What fees for IRBs do other Northern Virginia jurisdictions charge?  What revenue would Fairfax County raise if the county imposed these fees?
2	Please summarize the county's current senior and disabled tax relief program.
3	Please summarize the new fees implemented in FY 2010 that impact seniors.
4	Please provide a summary of all tax referenda in Virginia for the last 10 years.
5	Please recirculate the staff prepared memorandum on the costs to do stormwater pond inspections in- house versus through a contract.
6	What cost savings, if any would be recognized by contracting out to the private sector for the maintenance of vehicles?
7	What is the revenue loss due to senior citizen discounts, by program, and what loss of participation would be expected from eliminating or reducing the discount?
8	How much does the County spend each year on outside legal counsel, divided by type of service (collection, legal advice, litigation, etc.)?
9	What county funded after school recreation or childcare programs are provided in the middle schools?  What is the total cost and what fees or fee increases would be necessary to make the programs cost neutral?
10	What was the increase in expenditures per employee for the Police Department, Fire Department, and Sheriff’s Office from FY 2001 to FY 2008, adjusted for inflation?  How does this compare to other local governments in the D.C. Metropolitan area? Are there specific cost drivers behind this increase?
11	Provide updated numbers relating to the annual cost to the county government stemming from the “Cool Counties” initiative?
12	What is the County’s annual cost for environmental programs that go beyond meeting current state and federal obligations?
13	What is the purpose of having a Department of Administration for Human Services and a Department of Systems Management for Human Services?  Could savings be realized through a consolidation of these Departments?
14	What is the per child cost for the School-Age Child Care program? If we retain the current sliding fee scale for households with incomes of less than $50,000 what fee adjustments would be necessary to make the program cost neutral?
15	On a per year basis, how much over the rate of inflation did county salaries increase from FY 2001 to FY 2008?  How does this compare with (a) the private sector in Northern Virginia and (b) local government employees in other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area?
16	What cost savings could be realized by eliminating programs that duplicate programs covered by the federal or state governments (consumer protection, EEO, etc.)?
17	What is the annual cost of tax incentives provided to businesses to induce them to come to Fairfax County?
18	What is the replacement schedule for county vehicles, what savings could be achieved by lengthening the cycles, and what would be the potential downsides?
19	What role does Fairfax county play in international search and rescue efforts and what costs are incurred by the County?
20	Please provide the most up-to-date WABE charts, providing jurisdictional breakdowns in categories of average cost per pupil, average class size, school population size, and percent of children available for special education.
21	What was the total amount paid to the District Management Council (DMC) last year? What amount is budgeted for this year?
22	What are the specific services being provided by DMC? Do these services include focus groups and message development on the budget?
23	During the presentation at the joint BOS/School Board meeting you reported increases in SOL scores and that you are closing the achievement gap in SOL scores. As the Washington Post reported there has been a large increase in the number of students taking the VGLA. What is the specific impact of the additional VGLA students on the results depicted on these charts? How did you compute the impact so there is an “apples to apples” comparison to those just taking the SOLs?
24	What accounts for the large increase in the number of students taking the VGLA instead of the SOLs?  Do we expect this upward trend to continue?
25	Do you have a detailed description of the positions that are considered “school based” vs. “administrative”?
26	Do you know the actual number that transferred in to FCPS from private schools last year?
27	Does the County have a procedure for reviewing its capital assets to determine whether tax payers would benefit by the sale of an asset to the private sector and lease back by the County? If so, what is the procedure? If no, does staff recommend that such a procedure be implemented? If not, why not?
28	What is the cost to the school system to train and administer the VGLA tests? Please include time both in and out of the classroom.