Pat Herrity is the only Republican on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. He has been the only “no” vote in the room on the votes that built the bureaucracy now boxing in our County Executive — including the 9-to-1 vote in 2021 that handed public-sector unions the keys to the budget process.
Pat’s April 2026 Herrity Report puts numbers on what conservatives have been saying since the ordinance passed: collective bargaining is bloating administration, blocking common-sense savings, and pricing Fairfax families out of their own neighborhoods. Even the Washington Post Editorial Board is finally saying it out loud.
His column is reprinted in full below.
How Public Sector Collective Bargaining Is Impacting Residents
By Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) — April 23, 2026The Board of Supervisors doesn’t have to choose between taking care of our employees and taking care of our residents, but public collective bargaining has continuously pitted those interests against each other. In many instances, it’s stood in the way of common sense and affordability.
Since 2021, Fairfax County’s public collective bargaining ordinance has bloated the County budget with administrative positions and red tape, preventing the County from moving nimbly in the best interests of our employees and residents, while driving up the cost of services.
The Washington Post Editorial Board recently pointed out that these are key reasons public collective bargaining is a challenge for localities, saying, “Fairfax County… had to raise property taxes after giving in to union demands….Voters turned out for Spanberger in November, by a 15-point margin, because they wanted life to be more affordable. Giving unions the keys to local government will do the opposite.”
For many years, I have advocated for better pay for our county employees, including our police and fire departments as well as teachers, recognizing that the people serving our residents are our greatest assets. For instance, the Board addressed our police recruiting shortfalls with competitive sign-on bonuses and pay before we had collective bargaining. However, three years into collective bargaining and the problems are becoming even more evident than when I voted against it in 2021.
For example, the IAFF recently brought forward an idea, validated by County staff, that would save the County approximately $250K. Not only was it a cost savings, but the firefighters really wanted it. Due to our collective bargaining agreements, the change would need to be implemented across other agencies as well, resulting in an increase in cost of over $1M and canceling out the potential savings. Public sector collective bargaining prevents the Board from acting in common sense, from addressing specific problems without a bureaucratic process, and forces us to apply a solution across the board, regardless of whether it is actually needed.
As another example, last year’s budget guidance included my recommendation to solicit employee feedback on potential budget savings. As I stated in my April 2025 Herrity Report, in private industry I have always found that employees know where the inefficiencies and waste are and have good recommendations for savings. From September through October 2025, County employees submitted 872 suggestions for cost savings and efficiencies to the County. However, two employee unions filed prohibited practice charges that accused the County of violating provisions of the Fairfax County Collective Bargaining Ordinance. As these charges have not yet been resolved, none of the recommendations received from employees were able to be reviewed for inclusion in the FY 2027 Advertised Budget Plan.
In the last six months, I have had two of our senior managers share that the collective bargaining agreements have limited their flexibility, preventing them from making creative scheduling and cost-saving changes that would have benefitted our residents.
The collective bargaining agreements are not only impacting our ability to better serve and reduce the tax burden on our residents, but they are resulting in millions in additional overhead costs and taking the Board out of the process of advocating for our employees. For administration alone, the County spends several million dollars annually, including money for paid union positions. Unbelievably, the Board is not consulted going into negotiations with the collective bargaining units. When I meet with union members individually, they are unable to discuss certain topics that are part of negotiations.
It is no wonder that the Virginia Association of Counties (VACO), which represents not only Fairfax County, but counties across Virginia, is fighting so hard to protect counties from the current proposals at the state level to expand collective bargaining. Collective bargaining was rightfully not recommended by our County Executive when adopted by our Board in a 9 to 1 vote. We can support employees without tying our hands behind our backs when it comes to running County government.
Collective bargaining is just one of the many political agenda items that are woven into the county budget which are driving the 60 percent increase in real estate taxes over the last decade. It does not have to be that way. Fairfax County has long had a reputation as being a great place to work with great benefits. We don’t have to choose between taking care of our employees and taking care of our residents, we can do both better without public sector collective bargaining.
Read those examples again. A $250,000 firefighter-driven savings idea that turned into a $1 million cost increase because the contract said so. 872 employee suggestions for cutting waste — frozen by union grievance filings before a single one could touch the FY 2027 budget. Senior managers privately admitting they can’t schedule their own teams. None of this gets fixed by adding another administrator to the union-relations payroll.
This is the structural cost of one-party rule on the Board of Supervisors. Nine Democrats voted to hand the budget process to public-sector unions in 2021. Pat Herrity was the lone “no.” Three years later, your real estate taxes are up 60 percent over the decade and the County Executive — the professional manager Fairfax actually pays to run the place — was overruled on whether collective bargaining was a good idea in the first place.
Every Democrat supervisor who voted yes is on the November 2027 ballot: Chairman Jeff McKay (At-Large), Kathy Smith (Sully), Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill), James Bierman (Dranesville), Andres Jimenez (Mason), Rodney Lusk (Franconia), Dalia Palchik (Providence), Rachna Sizemore Heizer (Braddock), and Daniel Storck (Mount Vernon). Remember which one of them stood with taxpayers when it counted.
Breaking the 9-to-1 lock on the Board of Supervisors takes more than a column. It takes voter contact in every Fairfax precinct in 2027 — and before that, it takes resources to fight the federal map Richmond is drawing right now to lock in Democrat power through the November 3, 2026 midterm.
Out-of-state Democrat PACs are already wiring money in. The only way Fairfax conservatives answer that is with Fairfax dollars in Fairfax hands. Donate to the Fairfax County Republican Committee today — and forward this column to one neighbor who is sick of getting a tax bill every spring while the Board waves through another union-driven cost increase. Match your donation with theirs. That is how a 9-to-1 board becomes a 5-to-5 fight.
Further reading: “How Public Sector Collective Bargaining Is Impacting Residents” — Herrity Report, April 23, 2026. Sign up for the Herrity Report here.