City Council Meeting

Daniel Alexanderstaffframes what is truly driving the gap. The major drivers are structural. $5 million for the school tuition contract increase between the FY26 adopted budget and this FY27 projection. $3.3 million for planned debt issuance for school renovations, the Willard Sherwood Health and community center, 1.3 million for workforce investment, salary increases and fringe, half a million for one-time expenses offset by 1.3 million net operating and maintenance reductions based on project balances. A key takeaway, if we made no changes in tax rate or revenue and did not reduce non-mandated expenses, those drivers alone would translate to the equivalent of approximately $8.8 million in cost increases and a $0.9.6 real estate tax rate increase.

21.56 million for the willard sherwood project about 1.6 million in annual payments these are long-term investments that support education and health community infrastructure they are also commitments we need to plan for deliberately especially as we move into the multi-year school bond program fairfax city mainstay the hot maintains the highest ratings available triple a We have sustained excellence for more than a decade. What this means for taxpayers is straightforward, lower borrowing costs. Based on estimates shown here, maintaining the AAA credit quality can produce approximately $8 to $11 million in interest savings on the upcoming school bond issuance compared to the next rating tier.

Barbara Smithpublic commentGood evening, and thank you for allowing me to address you today. My name is Barbara Smith, and I live less than three miles from here, just across the border to Fairfax County. But I'm here tonight as the chair of the Fairfax City Young at Heart Senior Advisory Council, and I'd like to share our thoughts and reasonings with you on our support of the Willard Sherwood Health and Community Center project, specifically as it relates to the senior membership at the current Green Acres facility. I would be remiss if I didn't share how grateful most of us are with the Wayfair Fick City and the City of Parks and Recreation Department leadership for the continued support of our membership. We have an extremely diverse and vibrant community of senior adults, and we appreciate the programs offered by the city that offers us the opportunity to learn, grow, socialize, and play.

Additionally, there are no bus lines that service the Green Acres facility, and people have to take the bus to George Mason from QBus and then traipse through the woods to come to Green Acres. At seniors age, some lose their private transportation options and rely more on public options. The proposed Willard Sherwood Community Center is located on a bus line and is also in walking distance from several neighborhoods. Fifty-five-year-plus old adults, including Fairfax County seniors, spend their hard-earned dollars in the local economy. If a senior center is more centrally located in a Fairfax city, we'd have much more time to frequent restaurants, shops, and grocery stores on our way to and from our activities at the senior center,

Michael Fabiopublic commentThat's a tough act to follow, but Michael Fabio, Chain Bridge Road. I'm here to gain your support for the Willard Sherwood Center. Two weeks ago we heard an excellent, informative, and comprehensive presentation from the Willard Sherwood team. Council asked many questions and the team had the answers. Here are my takeaways. One, the county is getting is gifting us land, an expensive commodity rent free. This saves taxpayer dollars. Two, this allows us to keep the Green Acres property and continue to enjoy the ball fields and green space. Building a new structure there would cannibalize some of those areas. Three, it's shovel ready. Construction could start in a few months. Renovation or building a new structure on green acres site might not occur for years as we wait

for plans, public input, council approval and bidding. Four, there would be no downtime of the activities provided by green acres. Once the willowd Sherwood is complete, green acres moves in. Reconstructing green acres would take activities offline for many months. Five, the planning commission emphasized three city projects that are urgent. The property yard, firehouse, and Willard Sherwood. The first two are not ready to go. Willard Sherwood is. Delaying this construction would undoubtedly end up costing the city more as inflation raises the price. The city has already paid $4 million for the plans that would be lost. The price can't go up. It's guaranteed and might be negotiated downward.

forward, that process is occurring as we speak. The estimated burden to taxpayers could be relieved if the city is able to build up its commercial tax base. Having a welcoming community center will bring more people to the city to support city businesses. As existing and new businesses thrive, they will pay a greater share of our taxes. Conversely, if business fails, we will pay more taxes. 10. Finally, we found out that there will be no risk to the public from infected patients since those patients with acute infections have never been accepted. Now, most citizens do not follow city council and have no idea that there is a Willard Sherwood project. Of those who provide positive public input, I'm sure less than half are aware that this project is in danger of being voted down

Jim Gillespiepublic commentaccessible by the Q bus and Metro bus and a soon-to-be revitalized Blenheim Boulevard. The Willard Sherwood Community Center offers something for everyone. Child care services for working families, Center for Seniors, Recreational Services for Everyone, and Health Services for Everyone. Up until 2007, our city police department was housed in a former elementary school, John C. Wood, built in 1964. Today, few would question the wisdom of having replaced that building with a state-of-the-art public safety facility. Green Acres was built in 1961, and after 39 years as a school, has served as a community and senior center since 2000. I won't say anything bad about Green Acres and the other buildings that have served our city since its founding and before,

Janice Millerpublic commentGood evening, Mayor Reed, members of council. My name is Janice Miller, and I am here to share why I support Willard Sherwood. First, thank you for scheduling the February 10th work session to review and update yourselves in the community about Willard Sherwood. The staff and your consultant provided a thoughtful, comprehensive report. We all needed to be reminded why this proposed joint project with Fairfax County should be approved. As we know, this project aligns a longstanding city goal for a comprehensive community center. This development has community support as well as support from multiple boards and commissions, including the city school board, the planning commission, parks and recreation advisory board.

operating costs and investigating recovery revenues. That is part of your responsibilities as elected officials. Please continue this review and please vote to continue the partnership with Fairfax County and please authorize the bonds in April. Thank you for your time and service. Being the mayor and a council member is a tough job. It's always been a tough job. I speak from experience when I say the job is especially rewarding long-time goals and when a project is completed. There's nothing like having your name on a plaque. I appreciate your attention tonight and I wish you well in your deliberations. Our community is counting on you. Please vote for Willard Sherwood. Good night.

Judy Russellpublic commentThe partnership between Fairfax City and Fairfax County makes the land available, ensuring both a great location and a more affordable project. This project will provide an important community infrastructure that will benefit both current and future residents. Delaying the project will increase the costs and defer delivery of essential services that our residents need and want now. Having this project approved and moving forward will add additional incentives for people who are considering coming to live here. It's a wise investment even in this time of tight budgets. I hope the council will approve moving forward with the Willard Sherwood project to bring this facility and its services to our residents.

Carolyn Pitchespublic commentGood evening, Mayor Reed and members of council. My name is Carolyn Pitches and I am chair of the I'm here on behalf of our school board. We want to express our support of the Willard Sherwood Community Center project. For our schools, this center represents far more than just a building or a project. It represents direct, meaningful support for our students and their families. The services planned for the center, including child care, early childhood programming, dental and health services, speech and hearing services, and much more, learning. When students have access to preventive care and health services and educational programming and childcare close to home, they are more likely to attend school consistently,

Stacy HallThank you for the presentation. We have a, for example, we have two pre-application meetings that are after this. We have a fire station that we're considering. We have a Willard Sherwood Center that we're considering. Are any of these things that we're talking about doing or programs or buildings that we're talking about, you know, building, are any of those that can we apply any of these retroactively because we just did blank or we just bought a brand new $4 million fire truck? Is anything that we've done to date that we're looking forward to, can we go back and say, well, I think you know what

Thank you. So that kind of puts things in perspective, I guess, with if we agree to do Willard Sherwood, we will be signing on to this in a couple months. If we agree to do a new fire station, so at the time of the rezoning is when it would need to be done. So there's a bit of a disincentive then, or I guess an incentive to delay hearing new projects we've secured potentially this opportunity that we don't want to miss out on. So what is the timetable like? I think it said in the staff report that we would, the project is estimated to be completed by mid-2026. Reasonably from a staff perspective, what are we looking for if all goes well, if this is something that it seems like it's beneficial and would help us, when would we be talking

Okay. Then just to ask one clarification question on that. So if when you look at our CIP, for example, the Willard Sherwood has been in the CIP, you were here for the conversation, the community center, right? So that's been in our CIP for the past five years. We are now in year five of it being in the CIP. It has not been funded. We have done nothing to borrow against it. We haven't incurred any of those costs with the exception of the pay go of $4 million. Is that something that we've completely missed the mark on then because it was in a previous CIP? Or is something like a Van Dyke Park that, again, has also been in the CIP for a couple of years, but, again, no funding, nothing like that consideration?