Comments on: MAN ABOUT TOWN: A City in Retreat http://fallschurchtimes.com/13346/man-about-town-a-city-in-retreat/ Falls Church City's Online Community Newspaper Tue, 22 May 2012 12:44:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: TFC http://fallschurchtimes.com/13346/man-about-town-a-city-in-retreat/comment-page-1/#comment-5989 TFC Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:00:26 +0000 http://fallschurchtimes.com/?p=13346#comment-5989 I would find it a considerable burden to see my tax rise by $1200 to $1400 if we needed to add another .20 to the tax rate. I wonder how many residents might be in the same boat? The decisions will be hard for all sides. I think our residents on fixed incomes may be hit particularly hard....it's a lot of extra money to budget. I would find it a considerable burden to see my tax rise by $1200 to $1400 if we needed to add another .20 to the tax rate. I wonder how many residents might be in the same boat? The decisions will be hard for all sides. I think our residents on fixed incomes may be hit particularly hard….it’s a lot of extra money to budget.

]]> By: Melissa Teates (City of Falls Church) http://fallschurchtimes.com/13346/man-about-town-a-city-in-retreat/comment-page-1/#comment-5980 Melissa Teates (City of Falls Church) Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:15:07 +0000 http://fallschurchtimes.com/?p=13346#comment-5980 We would all like to go back and fix the projection errors, but we would still have reached this moment even if we had predicted correctly that revenue in FY 2010 would be this low. We would still be in a position of either cutting services and/or raising the tax rate to balance 2011. Obviously, the city staff did fail in their projections and we would be better prepared if we had had accurate projections, but we would still be here. I am for a tax increase of 20 cents or more. We want the services then we need to pay. The actual tax increase will be reasonable with property assessments down. Most parents I know concur that a substantial tax increase is better than degrading our school system and city services. Along with the tax increase we need a real commitment from the Council and the City Manager that we will fix our budgeting process and our overall financial management. We also need a commitment that we have the best prices/services for our outside contracts and that the staffing we have is effective and correctly organized. These issues will be key in the next council election in May or in November. Additionally, we need to be very cognizant of the true challenges we have coming down the pipeline in regards to our school infrastructure and increasing school population. We would all like to go back and fix the projection errors, but we would still have reached this moment even if we had predicted correctly that revenue in FY 2010 would be this low. We would still be in a position of either cutting services and/or raising the tax rate to balance 2011. Obviously, the city staff did fail in their projections and we would be better prepared if we had had accurate projections, but we would still be here.

I am for a tax increase of 20 cents or more. We want the services then we need to pay. The actual tax increase will be reasonable with property assessments down. Most parents I know concur that a substantial tax increase is better than degrading our school system and city services.

Along with the tax increase we need a real commitment from the Council and the City Manager that we will fix our budgeting process and our overall financial management. We also need a commitment that we have the best prices/services for our outside contracts and that the staffing we have is effective and correctly organized. These issues will be key in the next council election in May or in November.

Additionally, we need to be very cognizant of the true challenges we have coming down the pipeline in regards to our school infrastructure and increasing school population.

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