November 25 Economic Initiatives Committee - Nov 25, 2025

meeting

Fairfax County Board Committees 1h 14m 5 speakers 8 agenda items transcribed 2 days ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the purpose and agenda of the Economic Initiatives Committee meeting?

Unknown 0:00

We need to get started. We're already running late. Thank you.

Barry Bigger 0:09

Just have to click.

Unknown 0:32

Yeah, that's all. We're gonna start the uh Economic Initiatives Committee meeting uh November twenty fifth, twenty twenty five. I'm gonna go right to it, folks. Um good morning. We've got uh a full full day of discussion, full real hour and a half of discussion. I would like to welcome Visit Fairfax uh as well as uh their board, and thank you for joining us. And first and foremost, do we have any changes to our April eighth, twenty twenty five meeting notes? April eighth. 2025 meeting notes was the last meeting that we had. Not hearing or seeing any changes, we will move on. If there's any further comments or suggestions, uh please let us know. But we're gonna let the meetings, uh the minutes stand as a record of the meeting.

Unknown 1:16

And with that, we're gonna go to this presentation is in response to a budget guidance uh from the board to visit Fairfax. The TOT, the transit occupancy tax was increase by two percent beginning FY twenty twenty six which be july first, with the last increase prior to that occurring uh more than twenty years ago. Today is the first step in discussion in this process. No decisions will be made today. Um and Chairman, did you have anything you want to add at this point in time? We're gonna keep rolling then and I'm gonna turn our this over to our county executive Brian Hill. Mr Hill. Good morning. Uh good morning, sir. I'm gonna kick it right to Joe La Hate. All right. Uh pardon the piece here. I think we're good to go.

Unknown 2:02

Uh this represents a a a presentation from Mr. Bigger and his staff based on months of outreach coupled with county staff coordination. I think you'll find informative. And by all means questions are available if need be. Um but again consistent with budget guidance and that's why we're here today reporting out and our status updates. Without any further ado, Mr. Bigger, turn to you.

Barry Bigger 2:20

Well, thank you very much and a very good morning to all of you. This is a very exciting day for Visit Fairfax. Not only for Visit Fairfax, but indeed the entire county of Fairfax, certainly our stakeholders, the industry, but most important, the residents. Before we get into the presentation I would like to say thank you so much to the people from the county who we have worked with so close, and that is with Rebecca Moodrey. Scott's eyes er? Jola Hate and Albina Asinov. They have been fabulous and very much a part of why we are here today. So to begin, I would like to introduce the chairman of our board, Don Anderson, who is also the general manager of the Washington Dallas Hilton. Don,

Don Anderson 3:43

please. Uh good morning everyone. Um as Barry just said, I'm Don Anderson and uh chairman of the board of Business Fairfax as well as the general manager and also a fifty year resident of Fairfax County. Um I've been a member of the board of directors uh for six years, a group of rep that represents leaders from all aspects of hospitality, tourism industry and the county. In previous positions on the board as Treasurer and Vice Chair I was specifically involved in the oversight of the additional funds that ARPRA brought to the county. I have witnessed the workings of Visit Fairfax. first hand and can say with complete honesty and pride That Visit Fairfax is an exceptional steward of the investment made in tourism over these many years.

Don Anderson 4:32

I can guarantee That the additional investment of one percent hotel tax will be governed with accountable, measured, transparent and responsibly reported ROI for the county, the industry, and our residents. Siri doesn't like me. That was Barry talking. As a hotelier and stockhol stakeholder in all that Visit Fairfax does. I again can say with all honesty, pride and appreciation. That visit Fairfax represents the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. with the highest degree of professionalism. The team maintains a fine tuned focus on ensuring that the investment made in them And subsequently the industry. returns the greatest results, not only maintaining the level of visitation