Last Tuesday I drove to the Fairfax County Government Center (the Taj Mahal to friends) to attend a well-advertised Board of Supervisors hearing on the agreement for Crescent Apartments and Lake Anne redevelopment. I was prepared to testify in support of the plan if needed. Instead, it turned out to be a brief, pro forma hearing. The Board’s other agenda proved more interesting. There were minor rezoning requests—a proposal to relocate a model airplane flying site and two to increase capacities of in-home daycare centers from 7 to 12 children each—all passed unanimously with little discussion. Then came a hearing I had not seen advertised. It seemed very few others had either. The subject was straightforward. It was the Board’s own proposal to increase their own salaries from $75,000 per year to $95,000 for nine District Supervisors and to $100,000 for the Chairman, increases of 27 percent and 33 percent respectively.
In December the Supes had decided to have a possible increase studied, but I had no idea it had moved from study to the approval stage at warp speed, below the radar! Only two speakers popped up, both friends of Board members it appeared (in fact, I knew one of them!), to sing brief praises of the hardworking Board needing a raise. No one rose to speak in opposition. Three Supervisors noted they had received little input or comment from the public, i.e., "only 4 or 5 emails, all favorable;" "just a few calls;" and "a few more, but not many!" The Supes took this as nigh on unanimous public approval.
The ball went to Sully Supervisor Mike Frey (R), who recently announced he will not run for re-election, to make the motion to increase the salaries, effective January 2016. Chairman Bulova quickly asked for the AYES. Then there was an awful oops! Supervisor Pat Herrity (R) reminded his onrushing colleagues that the Board had in fact committed to keeping the matter open for public comment until March 3. Drat, muttered Supervisors McKay and our own Cathy Hudgins, noting the raises were clearly justified to attract such good people. Bulova hurriedly looked through her notes, and asked Herrity if he was certain they had agreed to that distant March 3 date. Herrity assured her that it was so, and he moved for deferral of the vote to that date. A barely audible vote of the ayes ended the discussion. Herrity’s objection had sucked the air of joy out of those up on the dais. Under different circumstances, I might be unlikely to question a pay raise for Supervisors whose jobs can be important and demanding. I’d rather we pay them more, and perhaps reduce temptation to supplement modest pay with tips or loose campaign money from those seeking favorable treatment (see Michael Pope’s 2014 historical “Wicked Northern Virginia,” Chapter 6, entitled “Supervisors for Sale: Zoning Scandal Rocks Fairfax County”). However, the County faces another tight budget year and the Board is telling all departments to suck it up, and telling those who teach our kids they’ll be lucky to get a 2 percent raise after years of pay freezes. Budget discipline only for the workforce, not the Supes!? And, talk about cuts for others--county libraries are being decimated by the Board’s downsizing staff and destroying literally hundreds of thousands of books. Money is tight, you know.
At the present time it is also hard to make the case for a performance-based pay raise. The County Police, whose Chief is appointed by and nominally accountable to the Chairman and the Board, has become a heavily armed group employing masked SWAT tactics and lethal force on unarmed citizens guilty of misdemeanor-level offenses at worst. Under this Board of Supervisors, the force is totally non-transparent and accountable to no one but themselves in cases like the apparent murder of unarmed John Geer of Springfield by a policeman in August 2013. It took a court ruling 17 months after the fact to get any information on this killing from the Fairfax County Police. Meanwhile, Chairman Bulova and nine Supervisors remained silent. Such dereliction of duty is hardly the underpinning for a major pay increase.