Fairfax County Voters Decide Two Bond Questions on Tuesday: $180 Million for Parks and $75 Million for Health Facilities
The parks question would fund $51 million of repairs at existing facilities and $89 million for recreation centers. The health question carries $35 million for the county's public health laboratory and $40 million for substance use and mental health treatment facilities. Each question is voted yes or no on its own.
Below the candidate races on Fairfax County's ballot sit two questions that will shape the county's buildings for a generation, and each gets its own yes-or-no vote on Tuesday. The first would authorize up to $180 million in bonds for parks and park facilities. The second would authorize up to $75 million for community health and human services facilities. Virginia law requires voter approval before the county can issue general obligation bonds, so neither borrowing happens unless a majority of voters approves that specific question.
The parks money is split between fixing what exists and rebuilding the centers people use most. The Fairfax County Park Authority's current plan puts $51 million into repairing, replacing and upgrading existing park facilities - playgrounds, trails, athletic facilities, lighting and shelters - and $89 million into recreation centers, including work at the Audrey Moore Rec Center. The health question is aimed at two specific needs: $35 million to renovate or replace the Joanne Jorgenson Public Health Laboratory, expanding its testing capacity, and $40 million to renovate or replace facilities at the Tim Harmon Campus that support substance use and mental health treatment programs.
The questions sit inside a much larger building program: the county's capital improvement program for fiscal 2027 through 2031 runs to nearly $16 billion, with $2.26 billion in new debt projected over the coming years. Fairfax holds AAA ratings from all three major bond rating agencies, which let it borrow at relatively low rates, and the county says the bond program is designed so these bonds will not contribute to an increase in the property tax rate. Bond proceeds are limited by state law to the purposes stated in each question - parks money cannot be spent on an unrelated project - and the county has published the full ballot questions and plain-language explanations in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean.
