Fairfax County's pension costs have climbed past $620 million a year, squeezing the General Fund that pays for Reston schools, parks and police. A supervisor's push to overhaul the county's retirement systems has stalled after a Budget Committee meeting was canceled.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity called for a comprehensive review of the county's three retirement systems, citing costs he said totaled $620 million in the fiscal 2027 budget, as first reported by the Fairfax Times. The Fairfax Times noted those figures, from Herrity's newsletter, could not be independently verified by press time. The county's adopted fiscal 2027 budget lists total retirement expenditures at roughly $622.3 million.

Herrity requested the review at a May 5 Board of Supervisors meeting. According to his newsletter, the discussion was expected at an October Budget Committee meeting. That meeting was canceled.

"For general county employees, the cost of pensions per payroll dollar was 20% in FY 2015. It increased to 33% in FY 2025 and [is] likely on its way to 40% by 2028," Herrity wrote. "This is unsustainable."

Pension costs have kept climbing despite reforms in 2013 and 2018 that reduced benefits for newly hired employees, the Fairfax Times reported. County Executive Bryan Hill identified rising retirement contributions as one of several fiscal 2028 challenges during his February budget presentation, alongside increased debt service.

The county operates three separate retirement systems covering general employees, police officers and uniformed staff such as firefighters. Each has its own board of trustees and investment policies. The fiscal 2027 employer contribution rate for the Police Officers system stands at 62.92%, according to the county's retirement overview. The Employees' system rate is 33.79%, and the Uniformed system rate is 55.54%.

A March 2024 study by the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) found unfunded liabilities across all three systems grew from about $1.5 billion in fiscal 2014 to $3.55 billion in fiscal 2023. The systems missed their assumed investment return targets in eight of the previous 10 years, the Fairfax Times reported.

Louise Epstein, chair of the MCA's Budget & Taxation Committee, told the Fairfax Times the central concern is that liabilities keep growing even as the county puts more money in.

Independent reviews have already been completed. A March 13, 2026, memo from Deputy County Executive and Chief Financial Officer Christina C. Jackson outlined the results for supervisors. Consultant Agilis found the current 6.75% assumed rate of return "reasonable" and said asset allocations did not need to change. Funston Advisory Services, which reviewed governance, concluded the systems were "generally well run" while making 63 to 66 recommendations per system. Those included strengthening board policies, improving recordkeeping and adding independent investment oversight for the Employees' and Police Officers systems.

Herrity said the studies were not shared with supervisors until March 2026, after he asked when findings would be released.

The CFO memo also flagged a looming cost increase. Based on preliminary estimates from five-year experience studies conducted in fiscal 2026, the county projected an additional $47 million in retirement funding for fiscal 2028.

Herrity has proposed reviewing pension funding assumptions, examining actual salary growth, considering higher employee contribution rates for participants in older plans and exploring a hybrid retirement system for general employees. He emphasized he is not proposing cuts to benefits already promised to current workers.

Epstein said the MCA supports further examination but has not taken a position on every potential change. "If Supervisor Herrity is suggesting something beyond that … he might be implying something that would, for example, tweak the benefit formulas," Epstein told the Fairfax Times. "At that point, the MCA does not have a position."

No new Budget Committee date for the pension discussion has been announced. Residents can follow the Board of Supervisors' meeting schedule on the Fairfax County website.