The third quarter financial report for the City of Falls Church general fund presented to the F.C. City Council by the City’s new director of finance, Kiran Hawa, Monday night showed that only 60 percent of the total budgeted revenues for the current fiscal year have been collected over the first nine months, and “could potentially result in a shortfall of as much as approximately $800,000 in revenues” by the end of the fiscal year.
Real estate tax receipts are under projection “due to adjustments to assessed values, rehabilitation credit, tax relief and deferrals being higher than estimated,” according to the report. Most of this has occurred for commercial properties “where the assessment is based on financial information which we may not have prior to the assessment,” it added. Business license receipts are projected to come in under budget by about $180,000, permit revenues are coming in “significantly under budget” with a shortfall of about $660,000. While sales tax revenues are coming in slightly below projections, they are up nine percent, nonetheless, and other taxes are projected to come in under budget by $170,000 and fines and forfeitures are projected to be under budget by $180,000 due in part to a challenge leading to a temporary stop in red light camera citations.
On the bright side, personal property taxes are projected to be over budget by 7.7 percent, or $390,000 and meals tax revenues are also projected to be over budget by about 8 percent.
