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Fairfax County’s police, fire and rescue, sheriff’s, and emergency management agencies could lose more than $26 million as officials confront an estimated $292.7 million shortfall for fiscal year 2026.
County Executive Bryan Hill’s proposed budget includes $59.8 million in reductions across county government. About $26.2 million would come from the police department, fire and rescue department, and sheriff’s office—roughly 44% of all proposed cuts.
An additional $426,333 could be cut from the Department of Emergency Management and Security, largely by reducing contracted private security at the courthouse campus, the Original Mount Vernon High School construction site, and several South County facilities.
“I don’t think anybody is happy with this budget, but this is where we are,” Hill told the Board of Supervisors while presenting the plan Feb. 18. “We have been working diligently to figure out how to make this mildly palatable, to find the right balance.”
Vacant public safety jobs targeted
The proposal would eliminate nearly 70 vacant positions across the police and fire departments and sheriff’s office, all of which have struggled with staffing in recent years.
The Fairfax County Police Department could lose 47 uniformed positions. Most are tied to the Lorton District Police Station, which opened in 2023 but has yet to become fully occupied.
The police budget would also eliminate 16 civilian crossing guards assigned to high schools. As coverage is already being reduced, the county is considering privatizing the program or using community safety officers to address staffing gaps.
The Sheriff’s Office faces the elimination of 20 positions, including 10 of its 80 currently vacant deputy jobs.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said the agency has a 30% vacancy rate among sworn personnel, so cutting those 10 positions would not displace current employees.
The office views the reductions as temporary and expects vacancies to decline if it can work with the county to secure more competitive deputy pay, the spokesperson said.
Fire department would lose the most money
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department would eliminate only one full-time job: an engineering technician who provides records support at the front desk and is retiring.
Even so, the department would absorb $12.1 million in reductions, the largest amount proposed for any county agency. Police cuts would total about $11.5 million.
Nearly half of the fire department’s savings—$5.61 million—would come from lower overtime spending. A department spokesperson said the proposals were developed with community safety as the priority and were intended to preserve essential emergency response capabilities.
The restructuring would remove ambulances from the Clifton, Crosspointe, and Gunston fire stations. It would also end staffing for rescue units in Lorton and Fair Oaks and eliminate a medic unit at the North Point station near Great Falls.
A rescue unit at the Scotts Run station in Tysons and a tower ladder truck in Franconia would become “peak staffing units.” Instead of operating with dedicated crews around the clock, they would be staffed during periods of highest demand.
The department did not explain how it selected the affected units. Robert Young, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2068, said the four stations slated to lose emergency medical transportation are in less densely populated, more remote areas.
“In our opinion, that reduces the capacity for us to provide those critical services to the community,” Young said March 19. He noted that the four EMS units are capable of transporting sick or injured people to hospitals for definitive care.
The firefighters’ union opposes reducing units while demand is rising. Fire and medical calls have increased 26% since 2017, according to the union, driven partly by county population growth and the resumption of everyday activities after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Young said the growth in calls is already placing greater demands on employees and argued that the county should not reduce fire and rescue services when the department’s own data shows call volume increasing.
Police overtime and programs could shrink
The proposed police budget includes a $2.2 million reduction in overtime. Of that amount, $500,000 would come from Animal Protection Police as its services move to the Department of Animal Sheltering. Budget documents anticipate minimal effects from that change.
However, the draft acknowledges that the county may have to restore some overtime funding if the reductions interfere with officers’ ability to respond to incidents.
Other police cuts would reduce travel and training, eliminate a public survey tool launched in 2023, end the Differently Abled Driving Program for licensed teenagers with intellectual disabilities, and discontinue child safety-seat inspections and installations.
The Sheriff’s Office would stop using a consultant for a canine therapy program launched in 2022, which is now managed by its peer support team. Several vacant deputy positions—including background investigators, dispatchers, and a firearms instructor—would be converted to civilian jobs.
Fire and rescue reductions would eliminate $100,000 in annual support for volunteer firefighter retention and bring fire-hose testing in-house instead of using a contractor. Stipends that help volunteer departments obtain apparatuses would fall from $35,000 to $25,000.
The plan would also eliminate the Community Emergency Response Team program and the Community Fire and Rescue Academy. Workers and volunteers would no longer use county recreation centers to maintain their fitness.
Hill asked every county agency developing its fiscal 2026 plan to identify 10% of its general-fund budget for possible elimination. The advertised budget ultimately proposes an average funding reduction of 3.4% per agency.
The Board of Supervisors is reviewing the proposal and plans to hold public hearings April 22-24. A final budget is scheduled for adoption May 13 and would take effect July 1.