The Budget

The Gerry Connolly Years - With the departure of Tom Davis and other Republicans on the board in the late 90's, we saw the rise of the Democrats in the early 2000's, led by our now Congressman Gerry Connolly. Taxes, spending, and the scope of our county government increased dramatically. In fact between the years of 2000 and 2007 the property taxes that you pay doubled. With the absence of other fiscally conservative Supervisors it would have been quite easy to acquiesce to the Democrats' demands, but instead I stood up for our tax payers. Between the years of 2000 and 2007 I voted against six of the eight budgets passed by the Democrat-led Board. Although these budgets passed because the Democrats had the overwhelming majority, I am proud to say that I did the right thing for our residents.

Since 2008 - It has been nice to have two other Republicans on the board that I can work with to make the case for holding the line on taxes. Unfortunately, we are still in the minority, but we have successfully amended the adopted budgets over the past three years so that the average homeowner is actually paying slightly less than three years ago.

The Future - I will continue to advocate for the taxpayer, and work to bring your taxes down. I believe there are still places in the budget that we can cut, and that we should not be raising taxes on our homeowners in times like these.

Keeping our Neighborhoods Safe

It is important that as we grow, we make sure that we do not overlook the problems that are associated with a more urban environment. As your Supervisor I will continue to advocate for solutions that makes sense for Sully. Just in the last few years to keep our neighborhoods safe I have supported:

STRIKE Team - I voted and advocated for the STRIKE team, a special unit that combines personnel from across county agencies (such as Police, Code Compliance, Health, etc.) to tackle problems such as overcrowding, hoarding, unsanitary businesses, and many other issues.

Secure Communities Program - I supported having the County enter into an agreement with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) in our County jails so that criminal illegal aliens could be found and deported. Since 2008 nearly 1,000 criminal aliens have been deported.

Funding for Police and School Resource Officers - I have supported keeping Police funding during these budget cuts as high as possible – many crimes actually spike upward in difficult economic times. I have supported funding to keep our School Resource Officers at every middle and high school to help prevent gangs from penetrating our schools. I will continue to advocate for our communities, and for the future of our kids. People and businesses come here because of our safe communities and our excellent schools. We must do everything necessary to keep it that way.

Transportation

Studies show the average Fairfax County resident loses up to 70 hours a year stuck in traffic. This isn't good for our health, our businesses, or our sanity! Much of our infrastructure is old and outdated, much of it needs major repairs, and most of it is incapable of properly handling the number of people now living in or passing through our area. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the General Assembly - until Governor McDonnell put forward his plans and programs- have failed us miserably. Unfortunately this has forced the County – using County property taxes – to pick up the burden. Since I have been on the Board I have –

Route 28 – Supported the creation of the first public–private transportation collaboration in the State, and led the efforts to expand it to add more improvements to Route 28. I have served on the Commission overseeing it for 20 years.

Replace Metro – I was the architect of the plan to replace Metro bus service in the Centreville/Chantilly area with Fairfax connector service. This has been significantly cheaper, allowing us to use the savings to add additional service.

I-66 – I have worked closely with Congressman Frank Wolf and my colleague Supervisor Pat Herrity to move forward with both short and long term improvements in the I-66 corridor. We got the Federal Highway administration to open the slip ramps to Stringfellow Road to non-HOV traffic in off-peak hours, we have pushed VDOT to re-start the EIS for long term additional lanes and HOV extensions, and have secured federal funding to study bus rapid transit in the corridor.

Additionally I have secured money from the last two Fairfax County transportation bonds to widen Stringfellow Road from I-66 to Route 50, where the work has finally commenced, and also for Poplar Tree Road between Braddock Road and Westfield Boulevard, where work has also recently begun. Sadly, due to the failure of the General assembly to adequately fund our transportation system, we have had to use local dollars to avoid being completely inundated by traffic. I will continue to advocate for the State to live up to it's constitutional responsibilities and build and maintain a proper 21st century transportation network.

In Summary

I have the experience necessary to lead Sully forward and tackle the tough problems that this County faces. I hope that you will support me in my bid to be re-elected as your Sully District Supervisor.