The Falls Church City Council adopted a $69,317,704 budget Monday for the Fiscal Year 2013 that goes into effect this July 1, keeping the current real estate tax rate of $1.27 per $100 assessed valuation, fully funding the School Board request for $37,707,400 for operating funds and $2,022,760 for community service funds, providing a 5.5 percent salary increase for all City employees and restoring the fund balance to two months of annual revenues.

A larger-than-expected growth in projected revenues of four percent allowed for the parameters met in the budget that include two new positions in the City’s planning department to enable a rekindled interest in commercial economic development here to become realized. In keeping with his earlier views, Vice Mayor David Snyder made a motion to lower the tax rate by a penny to $1.26, but it was defeated, 6-1. The Council’s votes on the tax rate and the budget both passed 6-1 with Snyder opposing, and the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) budget passed unanimously.