Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields unveiled his proposed Fiscal Year 2014 budget tonight that calls for an 8.2 percent increase over the current fiscal year budget, from $69,317,704 to $74,986,375. The budget calls for an increase in the real estate tax rate from $1.27 to $1.33 per $100 of assessed valuation, but recommends an “advertised tax rate” of $1.41, an additional eight cents, to “provide the Council with flexibility in its budget deliberations,” Shields said in a letter accompanying the 238-page proposed budget.
Budget variables include the degree to which the Council will provide the 12.9 percent increase in the School Board’s requested transfer and to fund storm water improvements. A mitigating impact in the proposed budget is a reduction in fund balance restoration by 81.8 percent from $1.1 million to $200,000.