By Letty Hardi, Mayor, City of Falls Church

Dear Friends,

Did you get to experience the eclipse on Monday? I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to share in the wonder from Cleveland, Ohio — a memorable human experience and momentary pause from all that is going on in the world.

Eclipse or not, city business — especially during budget season — marches on. As expected, we took our first reading vote on the budget which sets the ceiling tax rates. Because of Governor Youngkin’s budget amendments that were announced hours before our meeting, our local budget will now be more complicated, so I’ll explain more. We spent the majority of the meeting deep diving on the CIP (Capital Improvements Program) so I’ll also share highlights from that and my thoughts.

Remember — today at lunchtime, I’m hosting my April office hours as another Walk and Talk as part of the Fitness Challenge. Meet me at the Broad St entrance of Howard Herman Stream Valley Park at 12:00 p.m. for a spring stroll and share your input on the budget and priorities.

https://www.lettyhardi.org/updates-from-letty-april-12-2024-budget-edition-2

Best,
Letty

PS – One bit of good news from Richmond is that HB54, patroned by our own Delegate Simon, was signed by the Governor. HBH54 repeals the citizenship requirement to serve on our volunteer boards and commissions. We will now be able to adopt our own qualification rules and welcome more diverse voices to such boards tackling issues like housing and transportation that impact all residents of Falls Church, regardless of citizenship status.

Blog posts are the personal views of Letty Hardi and not official statements or records on behalf of the Falls Church City Council