As Arlington, Fairfax Both Face 2¢, 3¢ Rate Hikes
With neighboring jurisdictions facing real estate tax rate increases in their budgets for the coming fiscal year, the City of Falls Church is emerging as an important exception. Not only will the City Council here lower the tax rate, not by the penny recommended by the City Manager, but by 2 cents from $1.23 per $100 of assessed valuation to $1.21. The added penny cut would come half from the Cityside, and half from the schools.
The Council spent a lengthy meeting this Monday night dealing with those prospects, and will so again when it comes for a final work session this coming Monday when the FY2025 budget (for the period of July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025) will likely be wrapped up pending a final adoption at the Council’s May 12 business meeting. However, the current 5-2 split on the Council may mean there may wind up being two competing ordinance proposals the Council will have to choose from.
Meanwhile, by contrast, both behemoth neighbors to F.C. City, Arlington and Fairfax counties, are facing the necessity of rate increases, even with deep cuts in numerous important programs. Arlington adopted a budget with a 2 cent rate increase that will add an average of $430 to the average homeowner’s annual tax bill and the Fairfax County board of supervisors yesterday voted a 3 cent rate increase that will add about $450 to the average tax bill. In the Fairfax case, that is being achieved by a significant cut in the request by the Fairfax Schools and by not meeting the request for salary increases by county employees.
The Falls Church budget, on the other hand, is slated to provide the full School Board request (minus the half-penny) and that includes 6 percent wage and salary hikes for school and City employees, alike, and with the 2 cent cut in the real estate rate will limit increases, in the context of robust overall increases in property valuations, on the average tax bill to $176. Overall, the City will lower its real estate tax rate from $1.365 three years ago to $1.21 with more cuts to come based on projections for continued growth.
The City’s recent decades’ aggressive push for commercial economic development is credited with its current ability to so strongly mitigate residential real estate tax rates.
However, as this Monday’s meeting (which did not adjourn until well after midnight) demonstrated, not everyone is happy with where the Council appears it will take the proposed F.C. budget, as shortfalls in commitments to environmental goals and support for the arts will apparently remain, to the chagrin of many who spoke during the public petition period.
Key members of a number of City-based arts and culture organizations petitioned the Council for more funding of arts and humanities grants, with Laura Hull, founder of Creative Cauldron, the City’s most important theater arts and education non-profit organization, noting that “since 2016, the critical grants funding that helps arts and culture flourish has only increased by 7 percent, while the average inflation over that period has been over 30 percent.”
“For the last four years, during the most challenging period for the arts weathering the devastating effects of the pandemic followed by a period of high inflation, this funding has remained flat,” she said. “In essence, that means that funding has actually decreased at a time when arts and culture organizations are also experiencing increased costs for goods, services and labor, and when the number of worthy grant applicants is increasing.”
Other speakers on this subject Monday included Joe Wetzel of F.C. Arts, Katherine Stewart of the Cherry Hill House, Ed Henderson of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation and Keith Thurston of the Art Space and this weekend’s VPIS Attic Treasures sale at the Community Center. All are members of the City’s Arts and Humanities Council.
Henderson struck the best chord when he reminded Council members that, with the City’s population growing, “You depend on us to create things to do!”
However, in the subsequent hours of deliberations by the Council, the issue of arts and humanities funding came up only in passing by Council member Justine Underhill.
The issue of an increased role of the City in sustaining its weekly newspaper of record, the Falls Church News-Press, was not addressed, except that Council member Erin Flynn suggested cutting the $15,000 City Manager Wyatt Shields has designated for monthly ad buys there.
Flynn joined others advocating against budget savings that would eliminate the addition of two additional hours on weekends for the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. At that point, however, Council member Christine Lian reminded her colleagues that their focus on the $138 million budget was shrinking to matters involving a total of less than $64,000.
In that context, Shields noted this is the 10th straight year that the City has had no growth in basic supplies added onto existing programs.
The issue of preparing for a potential added Metro funding burden of up to $1 million, if it is not restored in the state budget against the wishes of Gov. Youngkin when the state legislature reconvenes in an effort to complete an annual budget on May 13, will be addressed if need be by dipping into the Northern Virginia Transportation Trust Fund, Deputy City Manager Cindy Mester stated.