OPINION: Don’t Fear FAAB (Fiscal Affairs Advisory Board)
Falls Church has a long tradition of citizen participation in government. It maintains over 20 volunteer boards, councils, and commissions that study important issues and provide advice to the City Council and staff.
There is a board for cable television and a board for recreation and parks; there are councils for human services and for environmental services; there are commissions for planning, for public utilities, and for housing. All the bases seem to be covered except one of the most basic: there is no board, council, or commission concerned with the City’s fiscal affairs.
Falls Church had such a board in the 1990s but it faded away, apparently due to apathy. Times were better, so presumably citizens were less concerned with the City’s finances.
Now times are harder and several voices are calling for the establishment of a Fiscal Affairs Advisory Board (FAAB). First among them is City manager Wyatt Shields, who stated at a recent City Council work session “. . there are big spending needs going forward, and we face big challenges. We could benefit from some expert input.” Councilmen Dave Snyder, Nader Baroukh, and Lawrence Webb also have advocated establishing a new board.
Other councilmen are dubious. Vice Mayor Hal Lippman was quoted in the Falls Church News-Press as as saying he believes such a body “could be co-opted by people with a political agenda.” Councilman Dan Maller concurs, stating “Bank accountants and bean counters should not determine the future of the City.”
The councilmen are hardly alone in their dissent. The School Board has unanimously voiced its opposition. The News-Press has twice editorialized against the idea, fearing such a body “would harbor unintended consequences that could weaken the process in the long run.”
If established, what would the FAAB do? Presumably it would function in the manner of similar boards in Arlington and Alexandria . (The clearer summary of duties (Alexandria’s) appears on page 7.)
Opponents of the board have stressed that such duties are the responsibilities of elected officials. However, there apparently are no accountants, budget analysts, economists, or financial planners on either the Council or the School Board. Why not consider advice on financial matters from citizens with more expertise?
Since we know of no formal or informal proposal regarding the FAAB, we will modestly offer one:
1. Establish a trial board for two years. Have the City Council, the School Board, the Planning Commission, and the Economic Development Authority each make one appointment. With its members selected by several different bodies it would be difficult for the board to establish any political agenda.
2. The charters of the Arlington and Alexandria boards may be too broad for Falls Church. Initially, give the board a fairly limited charter, especially concerning the present budget cycle, and have it focus primarily on long-range forecasts and planning.
3. Instruct the board to meet publicly each quarter and encourage citizen participation in its meetings. Have a board member report to the council quarterly, ideally at the council session after the public meeting. Mandate the board submit a report of recommendations just prior to the start of the next budget cycle.
4. After two years, review the board’s performance and either extend its term to four years or close it. If the board is granted an extension, consider expanding its charter and increasing its membership.
The City government should welcome, not fear, constructive advice from responsible citizens, especially on fiscal matters. Ultimately, the City’s survival may depend upon it.
The views expressed in OPINION columns are those of their authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of other Falls Church Times staff members or of the paper as a whole.
Some of the author’s previous opinions:
Are Local Politics Only for Democrats?
By George Bromley
July 29, 2009
I did speak against the proposed Board, although I hope the quote in the FCNP was a bit garbled. My point was that it is fundamentally the job of the professional staff and the City Council to guide the City’s fiscal affairs. Obviously there is a great deal of expertise in the City, and of course we should be tapping into it, but we have an Economic Development Authority and a Planning Commission which are continually consulted by the City Council and which have their own duties and responsibilities as part of our governing process. The EDA commissioned a financial model which has proved remarkably accurate in predicting the positive results flowing from recent development activities. In addition we have an elected School Board which manages our School Division, which is far and away the largest cost driver in our budget; without the cooperation and buy-in from the SB we would be wasting our time and/or potentially wounding the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Of course the Council should welcome and facilitate constructive input from citizens, and our cup truly runneth over with the quantity and quality of such inputs. However, we would make a serious mistake to turn over our future vision to the bean counters and risk managers. In my view, long range planning consists of charting a course based on our values and aspirations as a community, and then taking prudent and decisive steps to make the vision a reality, rather than just looking at the ground around us and accepting whatever bump may next appear in the road and extrapolating that bump into a future mountain.
That said, I think there is merit to the Bromley plan, which seeks as I was suggesting in our work session to create a real process and not just to create another board and see what happens. I should note that the Arlington FAAB has very broad responsibilities because there is a revenue sharing deal between the CB and the SB, which is not something that has seriously been contemplated in FC. I am sure that all fourteen members of the City Council and the School Board accept their responsibility to navigate these troubled fiscal waters, and that we will continue to discuss these initiatives and other ways to improve our process.