City Leaders Get First Look at Proposed Budget Cuts
City Manager Wyatt Shields presents budget options to City Council, School Board, and Planning Commission Oct. 19. . .
How Falls Church could meet its $5.6 million shortfall was laid out Monday night (Oct. 19) by City Manager Wyatt Shields in an unprecedented joint work session of the City Council, the School Board, and the Planning Commission.
No decisions were expected at the session and none were forthcoming, as Mr. Shields and Assistant City Manager Cindy Mester plowed through over 40 slides detailing a correction plan for FY 2010, which began on July 1. The proposal calls for a general freeze in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) and $1.5 million of reductions in operating expenses.
The lengthy presentation, supplemented by memoranda from CFO John Tuohy, seemed designed to allay everyone’s concerns about the current fiscal year, but some Council members believed that more information was needed regarding FY 2011.
“We’re reliving an approach where we’re looking at one budget at at time.” cautioned Councilman Nader Baroukh, who feared the budget process might be fundamentally flawed.
Councilman Dave Snyder concurred. “We need as much data as possible concerning FY 2011 to work into our calculations. We need to know a lot more about next year than we do today.”
The councilmen may not know much more until next month since, according to the city manager’s timeline, preparations for FY 2011 won’t be discussed at length until a joint Council / School Board work session scheduled for November 30.
A property tax rate increase may be in the offing for next year, though Mayor Robin Gardner referred to that as a last resort. City Attorney John Foster advised that there will be no tax increase on the current calendar year as the land books have already been released. Each one cent increase on the tax rate (currently $1.07) equates to $150,000 in revenue.
The majority of the cuts for FY 2010 would be derived by deferring CIP projects. These primarily involve improvements to streetscape, parks, athletic fields, and storm water management (at $900,000, the biggest single “hold” ). Nearly $600,000 in city facilities improvements also would be deferred.
The sale of surplus property is expected to cover $1.2 million of the shortfall. These include 215 South Lee Street ($452,000) and the Pendleton House.
The majority of the cuts in the City’s operating budget would be derived through a hiring freeze ($500,000) and reductions in non-personnel expenses ($600,000). Only vacant positions would be affected by the freeze. No layoffs are proposed.
The non-personnel reductions represent about 2% of the total operating budget. Nearly 30% of these would be derived from cutbacks in street paving and facilities repairs. Landscaping maintenance and beautification projects also would be cut.
School Superintendant Lois Berlin proposed a $300,000 funding reduction, but stressed this was only a preliminary figure. The Board will consider additional measures.
Councilman Dan Maller pointed out that any cuts would be made in the face of increasing enrollment. Student population figures for 2009-10 increased 2.7 % over last year, slightly higher than projected.
A public hearing will be held concerning the proposed cuts at the next Council meeting on Monday, October 26. Unti then, residents may provide feedback to budget@fallschurchva.gov.
LATE NIGHT SESSION: Three hours after the main work session Monday night, City Council regrouped for a late-night session (10:30 on the wall clock). From left: Chief Financial Officer John Tuohy, City Manager Wyatt Shields, Asst. City Manager Cindy Mester, Falls Church News-Press Owner & Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Benton, School Board member Kieran Sharpe, School Board Vice-Chairman Joan Wodiska, and Council members Dan Maller, Dan Sze, Vice Mayor Hal Lippman, Mayor Robin Gardner, David Snyder, and Lawrence Webb. (Falls Church Times Photos by George Southern)
By George Bromley
October 20, 2009
What is the Pendleton House and how did the City come to own 215 South Lee Street?
BARRY BUSCHOW RESPONDS: Pendleton house is the group house on E. Columbia that backs to Madison Park and is in disrepair and not used as a group house anymore. The city bought 215 Lee to gain access to the Hamlett tract and TJ Elementary. City bought Hamlett tract about 3 years ago to preserve open space. The neighbors did not want to demolish the house so the city reserved an access easement and sold the house to another individual. That money should go back into the open space CIP account where it came from.
ANDY RANKIN RESPONDS: Barry, thanks for providing the extra info about those two properties. As a fairly new resident, I like learning about these different aspects of the City.
One of many interesting bits of information from the presentation: (in response to John Lawrence’s excellent question about the $462k net proceeds of the 215 S. Lee sale) is that the City Manager is proposing that these funds be counted as part of the “undesignated” fund balance. My understanding was that these funds would replenish the “Open Space Fund,” but the answer seemed to indicate that these funds would lose their “designation.” This is one of many areas where the City needs to provide more detailed information to support the charts and worksheets so all stakeholders can be in a position to react intelligently to the particulars of the proposal.
Dan and all,
I’m having a difficult time understanding how the city “netted” $462k on the 215 S. Lee street property. What was the amount that the city paid to purchase this property three years ago?
Purchasing of the Hamlett Tract and 215 S Lee are proof that the City doesn’t know anything about buying real estate even if it is for preserving open space. Most of Hamlett is in a Resource Protection Area and the 100-year flood, so at most you could get one or two houses back there – nice use of $1.1 million plus the lost tax revenue.
As for 215 S Lee, the City bought that for over $500,000, so there is a loss of at least $38,000 plus two years of lost tax revenue.
Hey, I see Nick Benton in another City “leaders” photo. I’m glad that he is there to keep this under control.
BARRY BUSCHOW RESPONDS: The Hamlett Tract has been on the city’s (Advisory Board for Parks and Recreation list since the early 70’s when it was offered to us for $100k. We lost the Reese parcel next to it to the townhomes built on stilts and technically built in a resource protection area also. It was a GREAT use of funds since it is the last forested parcel of open space in the city. It has always been debated if anything could be built there and since no money hungry developer ever persuded it I guess it was a bad risk. Your grandchildren will one day thank FC for keeping it open. The 215 Lee street got caught up in a NIMBY, however the city did retain a good easement to give the community access to the open space. The money for the sale rightfully belongs to the Open Space CIP account.
Does Mr. Benton get to enter into the discussions as a full member of the gang of 12 (yesterday’s gang of eight) and does he have voting rights? If so, how come? If not, how does he get to sit at the table with the delegation of city officials and look bored?