Wodiska Denies FCT ‘Story’; Shields Cautious on Finances
By GEORGE BROMLEY
Falls Church Times Staff
September 27, 2010
Falls Church City School Board Chair Joan Wodiska tonight denied that Mary Ellen Henderson School might be torn down. Earlier today a column in the Falls Church Times speculated that such action could be under consideration.
Speaking before the City Council, Ms. Wodiska noted that Thomas Jefferson Elementary will reach student capacity in 2012. “For this and other reasons the Board has been exploring all options, including low cost federal and state funding authority, to address the needs of our aging, energy inefficient, and limited building capacity.”
According to Ms. Wodiska, a master school facility plan will be presented in 18 months or sooner. She advised that “the Board will continue to work with the Council and Planning Commission to explore cost effective options to meet growing long term school facility needs and to improve the Capital Improvements Program process.” A new School Board facility advisory committee will be created to assist in this effort. Three members of the Council will serve on that body.
Ms. Wodiska stated that the Board would continue to hold private discussions concerning property ”in order to protect the city’s negotiating position.” She stressed that any violation of the confidentiality of such meetings was a serious matter and grounds for censure or other punishment of a public official.
During last Friday’s Council retreat Ms. Wodiska presented a report on school facilities. The document states current enrollment is 2,052 students and that the schools’ total capacity is 2,330.
City Manager Wyatt Shields provided a briefing on Falls Church’s financial situation. The closing undesignated fund balance for FY 2010 was just over $5 million, about $1 million higher than the spring projections. The City began the year with a balance of only $2.9 million. The fund balance situation for the current fiscal year is dependent upon the question of the FY 2009 water fund transfer to the general fund, a matter still under judicial review.
The City faces challenges in the years ahead, due primarily to declining commercial assessments. In FY 2012 overall valuations are expected to decline by 3 to 4.5%, with commercial real estate dropping 8 to 10%. All other revenues are expected to be flat or only slighter higher.
Mr. Shields acknowledged that significant tax increases could be in the offing “if the only lifting was done on the tax rate (i.e., revenue) side.” Councilwoman Johannah Barry noted that the tax rate by 2016 could be as high as $1.55. The current rate is $1.24.
Water and sewer rate studies are underway. The city manager stated that significant sewer rate increases could be expected due to plant upgrades.
Mr. Shields’ slide presentation of the financial overview is available on the City website, as are additional documents presented at the Council retreat.
The city manager thanked the Falls Church public safety personnel and the Arlington and Fairfax County fire units that responded to Saturday’s fire on Hillwood Ave. Forty-six firefighters were on the scene at the height of the two-alarm blaze. Two Fairfax firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion. City Economic Development Office representatives were on hand to provide assistance and support to businesses seeking to relocate. The fire now is under investigation. Foul play currently is not suspected.
Mr. Shields stated that over 100 pounds of perscription drugs were collected at a DEA-sponsored event last Saturday. Next Saturday, October 2, is leaf mulch loading day from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. Free mulch will be available for residents with trucks.
Commissioner of the Revenue Tom Clinton reminded residents that personal property tax bills are due on Tuesday, October 5. Decals should be affixed to vehicle windshields by November 15. Mr. Clinton stated that drivers who have trouble removing the decals should drop by the office for assistance.
A resident of S. Virginia Ave. stated that he and several neighbors had asked the City to improve signage on their street, but had not received a satisfactory response. Mayor Baroukh requested the city manager to follow up on the matter, which had been pending since January. The resident’s request was prompted by what he termed “an inordinate level of errant traffic” on the street.
The mayor advised the Council that Vice Mayor Dave Snyder’s absence was due to business travel.
The Council unanimously approved second reading of an ordinance to amend the City’s Traffic Code concerning fees for traffic infractions, traffic emergencies, and towing for unpaid parking tickets, and enacted a section dealing with parking in time-limited zones.
At the conclusion of public business the Council went into a 30 minute closed session to discuss property issues, presumably a follow-up to last Monday’s joint session with the School Board and Planning Commission.
By George Bromley
September 27, 2010
Ive been pleased with the manner in which you plan and write your stories. But why ddidnt you check your facts before you decided to scare the pants off us. We have handled similar charges of b ankrupcy for almost a half a century and we survived and actually prospered during that ttime. If anybody wants to join Arlington he has the right to do so. They are a fine county, but they no longer have a non partisan poitical county which they had for many years.We actually copied their form of government in 1959. They changed.We have demonstrated for 50 years that our system has produced this great little city.. Its having a difficult time now, Most of us are, but we are attemptng to manage our deprivations. And so will our city.We have recovered and we will recover again. A heavily burdened city staff is trying.. Our little city has much going for it and we will continue to try to preserve and improve it as we have in past recessions.
George, why did you not emphasize that the 6/30/10 fund balance came in $1 million over projection, where just a few weeks ago you “reported” that it was going to be far below projection.
I can’t comment much on 1959, but I did start advocating for the re-allocation of major assets including the GMHS property several years ago. It is important to note that any redevelopment of that property would take many years and that the operation of MEH could and would proceed for many years uninterrupted regardless of even an outright sale of the entire property, which would produce upside dollars well beyond the level where a transaction of this general nature would be quite the right thing to do. There has been an ongoing community process of looking at school facilities, and there were some very good discussions with the SB, PC and CC that I assume are ongoing around several alternatives to making needed capital improvements.
Chug Chug Puff Puff; the Little City that Can. Maybe it isn’t as exciting a story, but Lou Olom is right: it is who we are.
Lou – I try not to scare anyone, except on October 31. I don’t favor merging with Arlington. The George who’s advocated that is Southern, not Bromley.
Dan – I looked over my stories for the last three months for references to the fund balance and found two instances where I quoted city estimates (see below).
In the first instance the news ran in the third to last paragraph of the story, in the second it was in the second to last paragraph. In neither case was it headllined.
Last night it was clear that the lead story was the Wodiska denial, but I did put the news about the fund balance improvement at the start of the city manager’s report since I thought it deserved first placement. I didn’t headline it because I felt that, on balance, his report to the council was cautious.
On June 15 I did headline the fact that the city’s bond rating had been raised to AAA.
8/5/10 – Acting Chief Financial Officer Melissa Ryman reported on City finances. Real estate tax receipts are expected to be less than previously projected. The end of year fund balance now is projected at $4,150,081, or $29,000 below the projection made on July 1.
7/8/10 – At the beginning of the meeting Melissa Ryman was introduced as the City’s acting chief financial officer. Ms. Ryman briefed the Council on the status of the FY 2010 financials. Falls Church is projected to finish the year with an undesignated fund balance of nearly $4.2 million or 6.8% of revenues. Final figures will be available in September. (This was based on the CFOs memo of July 1, 2010, which gave an estimate of $4,179,433.)
George, thank you for the update. I thought there was a story about something being $1M UNDER projection; probably I was recalling the $29k which your comment seemed to emphasize, but in any event I need to check MY facts. I do not question the Wodiska statement being the story, but I checked the City report and it doesn’t say WHY the fund balance is $1M over. Whether it is plus or minus, I am always baffled that we can make predictions which in the space of just a few weeks turn out to be off by 25%. Inquiring minds want to know why.