F.C. School Board Adopts 11.5% Jump in Budget

The Falls Church School Board was expected to move without discord to the adoption of a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year at its meeting last night, adopting a budget that includes an 11.5% increase in its request from the City's operating fund.

The new request will be for $24,905,996, with the increase driven by the costs of operating the new Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School currently under construction. The school is due to open its doors next September. Additional staff required by the expansion also contributes to the budget growth, according to Falls Church School Superintendent Dr. Lois Berlin.

The School Board hammered out the parameters of the budget at three lengthy work sessions, and last night's vote, following a public hearing on options for the staggered opening times of the new middle and high school, was considered to be mostly pro forma.

The budget proposal will be forwarded to the City Manager's office later this week, where it will be incorporated with no changes, by law, into the City Manager's recommended overall City budget that will come before the City Council on March 14.

While City real estate assessments have been slow coming to both City property owners and City Manager Dan McKeever this year, sources have told the News-Press that the assessments are expected to jump, on average, well into double digits again this year, in keeping with similar increases already reported in surrounding jurisdictions.

McKeever told the News-Press he was uncertain exactly when City property owners can expect to get their new assessment announcements in the mail, but that it would be prior to the unveiling of his proposed budget in mid-March.

The Council is required to adopt a final budget for the new fiscal year beginning July 1 by the end of April, including any changes in the real estate tax rate.

Last year, with an explosive jump in overall real estate assessments due to a sweeping reassessment of every property in the City, the Council voted a tax rate cut of $1.08 per $100 of assessed valuation, a five-cent drop from the previous year's $1.13 and the lowest in seven years.