‘People are very scared’: Fairfax Co. supervisor on shutdown’s impact, available resources

Well, the actions that are happening in Washington, D.C., have had a profound effect on Fairfax County for the better part of this last year, which is really concerning, because that’s the backdrop under which this shutdown comes at us, and so we’re very concerned. And I think the real impacts for the people who are laid off or furloughed, you know, will depend on how long this shutdown lasts. And so we’re hopeful it doesn’t last long, but we’re planning in the event that it does last long to make sure that we’re prepared and ready to help people.

Well, we know there are upward of 80,000 federal employees that live in Fairfax County, and that does not count the contractors, which we believe is another 40,000 to 50,000. And so you’re talking about a lot of people here impacted. And I had met yesterday with a number of the contractors who are very concerned. And you know, the longer this lasts, the more likely they are to lay off employees. And remember, these are contractors that have already had to lay off employees because of the DOGE cuts that are happening as well.

Well there’s a number of things. We have a coordinated services planning line that we set up during COVID to deal with emergency help for people who are having trouble with food insecurity or paying their rent, utilities. If they’re having trouble with their SNAP, TANF or WIC benefits, or they’re just struggling to pay their bills, they should be calling the coordinated services planning line in the county so that we can link them up either with a county resource, or help them with a federal problem, or hook them up with a nonprofit in our community that provides that assistance.

The second thing that we’re doing is we’re looking at our own programs and making sure that for children in School Age Child Care after school, if they can’t pay their SACC bills, we want to work with them on a payment plan. Car tax bills are coming due if people can’t pay their car taxes or real estate tax bills, we want them to call the Department of Tax Administration, who will work out a payment plan for them that recognizes this unfortunate situation we’re in.

So we want to be a partner with the community here. I think my No. 1 concern is protecting the residents of Fairfax County. That doesn’t mean we’re not angry as heck that this is happening, and we find it completely irresponsible. But as mentioned earlier, there’s little I can do at the federal level. What we’re going to do at the local level is help as many people that need our help as possible.

People are very scared. You know, I’ve talked to so many highly skilled professional federal workers who have spent their career as patriots in public service who are being treated poorly or who have lost their jobs altogether. And so I think this is a Commonwealth of Virginia problem, not just a Fairfax problem, because, of course, if our economy suffers, the rest of the state is affected.

They rely on us. Almost half the GDP in Virginia is created in Northern Virginia. And so when Northern Virginia’s economy is suffering, the rest of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s economy is going to be suffering. But there’s real fear. There’s anger among our county employees and in the business community. There’s just real frustration over how unpredictable this is.

I mean, if you’re a business person, how do you long-term plan for how many employees you need for a potential federal contract? Or how do you look at expanding your restaurant if so many people are out of work locally that they’re not eating out anymore? And so the uncertainty that this creates in the private sector is also a huge piece of the story that we’re watching closely.