As the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors seeks the right balance between maintaining government services and keeping taxes reasonable, several organizations and programs serving the Reston community are facing potential cuts in county funding.
While no decision on the cuts will be finalized until the county budget is adopted at the end of next month, the affected organizations are scrambling to prepare themselves for the possible increased strain.
RESTON INTERFAITH, Reston’s largest non-profit organization that runs such services as the Embry Rucker Shelter, the local foodbank and the Laurel Learning Center, is among the social service groups that may have a significant portion of its funding eliminated.
If Reston Interfaith’s budget is cut, working parents may lose their childcare services, wait times for the shelter may grow to more than three months, and life will generally become harder for the less privileged, said Kerrie Wilson, executive director of Reston Interfaith.
“Don’t balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable groups of the population,” Wilson said.
Most of Reston Interfaith’s programs are funded by county and state grants. Between the General Assembly budget impasse and potential budget cuts by Fairfax County, the organization is growing increasingly worried, Wilson said.
“We’re all living in uncertainty,” she said.
One specific Reston Interfaith program facing a 30 percent cut provides temporary emergency housing in motels for homeless families, Wilson said.
“Are we really as a state and a community really to say this isn’t important?” she asked.
ANOTHER PROGRAM being eyed for a possible budget cut is a new SACC Center at Sunrise Valley Elementary School. SACC provides childcare for young students before and after school.
By not opening the SACC center at Sunrise Valley, the county would save approximately $189,400, according to estimates. The center was slated for opening after more than 100 parents surveyed said they supported it, said Tony Humphrey, assistant director of the SACC program in the Fairfax County Office for Children.
Reston senior citizens would also be affected by the potential budget cuts, as the county is pondering an initiative to close the Reston Senior Center, located near the Reston Regional Library.
If this $38,000 cut was enacted, most of the center’s program offerings would be transferred to the new Herndon Harbor House senior center, though the Reston center would still offer a few hobby classes. The Reston center serves about 60 senior citizens daily and has 1,000 registered members.
Dorothy Keenan, supervisor of the county’s senior centers, said there would be minimal disruption and almost no reduction in program offerings.
“The people in Reston would get to go to a beautiful new facility, so I think it would actually be a plus,” Keenan said. The cut would eliminate two staff positions at the Reston center, she said.
THE RESTON Historic Trust is another local organization facing cuts in county funding. If this cut is implemented, the organization will lose $2,000 annually — 10 percent of its county funding.
Chuck Veatch, who serves on the Reston Historic Trust’s board, said that although that $2,000 may not sound like much, its effects will most certainly be felt.
“The support from the county is both greatly appreciated and counted on by the Trust,” Veatch said. “While not a critical blow to the Trust, all non-profits are in a situation that when they lose any support, it’s not good.”
The Trust is hoping to offset the potential loss by raising additional revenue at new benefit events this year, such as the Founder’s Day Celebration on April 17.