At the outset of a joint Falls Church City Council-School Board work session tonight, City Manager Wyatt Shields presented a detailed, 38-page line itemized set of options for cuts in the FY11 budget deeper than what Shields has proposed so far. Holding a tax rate increase to 10 cents (compared to Shields’ proposed 20 cents) while leaving the current School Board budget at its currently proposed level would require the loss of 44 positions among the City’s total of 200 employees, as one example. Shields said he completed his report only 15 minutes before the start of tonight’s meeting.

Initial comment from School Board members focused on a short document of their own citing consequences of further budget reductions, highlighting 11 areas.