The next annual Falls Church City budget cycle informally begins tonight when the City Council and School Board convene a joint work session in the media center at the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to the current City Council and School Board, it is expected that members of the Planning Commission and new Council and School Board members-elect, winners in last week’s election, will be present.

There will be no formal actions taken, only the undertaking of a dialogue about the coming fiscal budget talks aimed at the adoption of an overall City budget by the end of April 2014 that will set the tax rates and expenditures for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2015.

Many variables will be identified and set for further study and deliberation, including the projected enrollment growth for the City schools, anticipated new revenues from developments projects that will either be completed (such as the Hilton Garden Inn by the spring) or undertaken (such as the Reserve at Tinner Hill, the Rushmark/Harris Teeter project and the Spectrum Project at the intersection of N. West and W. Broad Streets).

Other factors will include the net $10 million coming from the water system sale and a variety of capital improvement project options for both the schools and the City that include City Hall and library plans and maybe a parking deck.