Falls Church City employees came out in force to the F.C. City Council meeting tonight to make their case for the importance of the services they provide to the community. The action was triggered by the consideration given last week to significantly deeper cuts in the City’s budget, leading to large numbers of layoffs, than proposed by City Manager Wyatt Shields.
Falls Church City employees came out in force to the F.C. City Council meeting tonight to make their case for the importance of the services they provide to the community. The action was triggered by the consideration given last week to significantly deeper cuts in the City’s budget, leading to large numbers of layoffs, than proposed by City Manager Wyatt Shields.
Led by Tennille Parker, who is chair of the Falls Church Employees Advisory Council, employees of the library, human services, City Clerk’s and Commissioner of the Revenue’s offices and other government entities came one-by-one to explain their vital services to City residents. Debbie Gee said that her planning division provided services to 7,147 in the past fiscal year and Sue Richter said over 2,000 contacts were made in the human services division. Mary Gonda of the human resources office said that her efforts serve all 200 city employees, and Emily Leu of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library outlined the critical services provided by the library as, for many citizens, their only access point to the Internet for information and services offered by the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Motor Vehicles.
A number of citizens also singled out their desire for the part-time curator position at the Cherry Hill Farmhouse to be retained in the budget. No decisions or votes on the budget were taken tonight, only a vote on a minor correction to the first reading of the budget ordinance setting an upper limit of a $1.30 tax rate, which passed by the same 5-2 vote (Baroukh and Snyder voting no) as the first time it was adopted last month.
The public hearing on the FY2011 budget was the last one the Council will hold until the night it formally adopts the budget on April 26, although, as Mayor Robin Gardner said, the Council is still open to receipt of letters and e-mails. The Council will conduct work sessions this Thursday, next Monday and the following Thursday leading up to its final adoption of the budget in two weeks.
