Is Your Falls Church Fido Legal?

By KATHLEEN NEBEKER
Special to the Falls Church Times

March 11, 2010

A total of 697 dogs are registered with the city, a figure, according to City of Falls Church Treasurer Cathy Kaye, representing perhaps half of all the dogs in the City.  That’s right, only about half of the dogs in the City are licensed.  Is your dog licensed? Why should you care? 

Dog licensing started long ago as a way for dog owners to defray the cost to farmers of dogs killing sheep, goats and cows.  Today, the main reasons for licensing dogs center on public health and animal safety. The canine rabies vaccination, along with animal control, has largely eradicated rabies in this country. As a result, human rabies deaths from dog bites have dropped precipitously since the 1950’s.  Yet, rabies is present in the wildlife population, presenting a risk to domestic dogs and cats, as well as to humans. Licensing dogs provides verification to your community that your dog or dogs are current on their rabies vaccination. If you do not believe your dog will ever encounter a rabid animal, and that the vaccine and license are not necessary, check out the CDC’s data.  

Another reason for licensing your dog is that identifying tags provide help to get your dog home should your dog escape from your house or property. Has your dog ever pushed past you as you opened the front door?  Slipped out through a gate left open by a child or unthinking adult?  Accidents happen. In addition to alerting whoever finds your dog that he or she is vaccinated, the license tag provides a number linked to your address. 

City of Falls Church Animal Control Officer Rebecca Keenan reunites lost dogs with their owners on a regular basis.  Last year, approximately 40 dogs in the City were reunited with their owners, thanks to tags and the help of animal control.  Wearing a tag will also buy your dog more time at the animal shelter should he or she be picked up. Unlicensed dogs may be adopted by another person or euthanized after a five-day holding period.  Licensed dogs are given ten days.

If neither reason above for licensing your dog resonates with you, there is yet another reason for licensing your dog.  It’s the law. The law states that all dogs over four months of age must be licensed.  Unfortunately, the consequences for not licensing your dog verge on nil. 

Here’s the code:  Sec. 4-57.  Failure to obtain license: Every dog for which a license has not been obtained within 30 days after such license is required by law may be taken up wherever and whenever found within the City and kept, unless redeemed by owner, for a period of five days and disposed of as provided in section 4-77.

It’s hard to imagine our local animal control officer seizing unlicensed dogs in the City and carting them to the animal shelter in Arlington, with whom the City contracts for sheltering services.   Essentially, this leaves compliance to the good character of the dog-owning citizenry. Levying fines would appear to be a less cumbersome, more efficient way to increase dog-licensing compliance.   

The small revenue collected from dog licensing – only about $1,855 last year – goes toward animal control. All residents benefit from having a local animal control officer to handle problems with wildlife, as well as with dogs and cats.  The work ranges from capturing bats that get into houses to disposing of dead wildlife to handling cases of suspected rabies exposure.  Much of the work entails dealing with dogs in the City.  Animal control responds to calls about dogs running loose, dogs barking and, sadly, cruelty and neglect cases.  Other responsibilities include cases of dog bites, where the offending dog must be located.  As the keeper of three dogs, I’m happy to pay for their licenses, a small tax, to help support this work. 

One criticism I have is that the city’s process for licensing dogs is outmoded.  Many jurisdictions offer online dog licensing.  The City of Falls Church should make online dog licensing available to its citizens, as doing so would likely increase compliance.  And, on the subject of online payments, I’d also like the City to provide an online ordering and payment system for the orange stickers we must buy to dispose of our yard waste.   

All told, the fee to license your dog in Falls Church is a bargain. The fee is $5 for dogs who have been spayed or neutered, and $10 for all other dogs.  Fees for licensing dogs in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax are at least twice as high. So, what are you waiting for?  Do the right thing and license your dog.  Licenses my be obtained by visiting the Treasurer’s Office at City Hall, 300 Park Avenue, Suite 103E, Falls Church, VA, 22046.   Or, download the form and mail it back to the City with your check.

CITY FOCUS: Draft Budget Cuts Spending, Raises Tax

Click to read CITY FOCUS for March 11-17, prepared by the City of Falls Church.

Commercial Garbage Haulers Routinely Violate City Curfew

By STEPHEN SIEGEL
Falls Church Times Staff

March 10, 2010

It’s 5:30 a.m. Do you know where your commercial garbage truck is?

It may be prowling the streets of Falls Church City, waiting for just the right moment to wake up the neighbors.

The trucks occasionally lurk in parking lots, their lights off to disguise their presence. Other times, they just approach quickly without any fear they’re being watched. Then, with stunning suddenness, they strike.

Bang!

Adults, jarred out of a deep sleep, groan. Babies cry.

Bang! It happens again.

It sounds like a war zone, or a brutal traffic accident, as metal and metal collide with mechanized force. But it’s just another night in Falls Church City.

The noise is the sound of commercial garbage trucks servicing strip malls and stores in the Broad Street and Lee Highway corridors. The specialized vehicles, called “front-loaders,” use giant arms to pick up the big dumpsters, lift them over the driver’s cab, turn them upside down, and bang them into the top of the truck to ensure that every last piece of foul and filthy garbage moves from the one bin to the other.

It’s so loud that it can be heard hundreds of feet away. It can be heard even in City homes tightly closed up for the winter. And in part because of that volume, the City, like many jurisdictions, has a curfew that prohibits the haulers from doing pickups prior to 7 a.m. weekdays and 9 am on weekends and holidays.

But it’s rarely enforced, and the garbage companies continue to do it during the middle of the night with apparent impunity, according to interviews with neighbors who live near the City’s commercial areas.

AAA Trash did just that at 6:25 a.m. March 9. The driver picked up a garbage dumpster at the West End Shopping Center, 1055 W. Broad Street, and emptied the garbage with the typical, shuddering bang, the noise echoing several blocks away. A witness heard a cacophony of other banging further west on Broad Street at the same time, but was unable to see which companies were the offenders in those situations.

AAA did not return a call asking why they chose to violate the city curfew. But they’re not the only ones doing it.
Potomac Disposal Service (PDS) has awakened neighbors on Ellison Street many times. A witness told the Times she spotted a PDS truck picking up garbage, also at the West End Shopping Center, at 5:30 a.m. Feb. 16. Earlier in the winter, when a woman walked by with a dog at 5:30 a.m., a PDS truck turned off its lights in an apparent effort to hide the huge vehicle from view in the pre-dawn darkness. And yet another PDS truck picked up at the same location before 6 am Jan. 26, according to a different witness, who was awakened by the racket.

“This morning before 6 a.m. the damn garbage truck was collecting,” wrote an angry and tired Mara Peltz via email that day. “I’m so fed up with that happening when I’m asleep.”

Sometimes, it’s even earlier. PDS was seen banging the dumpsters at Taco Bell, 935 W. Broad Street, at 2:30 am last summer, and Waste Management, a national garbage company that services many City businesses, has been observed servicing Rite Aid, 1003 W. Broad, as early as 3 a.m.

It’s convenient to live near a commercial area, where one can walk to stores, restaurants, and transportation, but there is a downside: there are noises and activity nearby. People who make the choice to live near commercial areas know that, but they may not have known they would be shaken out of their sleep by a garbage pickup that sounds like nearby gunfire.

Rob Kahr, a City resident, got used to hearing the noise from both garbage pickups and deliveries at his previous home in the Greenway Downs. He made sure to live further away this time. “Nighttime/early morning pickup in areas where commercial abuts residential is not compatible,” he wrote via email. “Noise laws do exist, but you would be hard-pressed to get a cop to wait for a truck and write a citation.”

The city is aware of the problem, but it’s unclear what efforts they’ve undertaken to put a stop to it. In response to an inquiry from the Falls Church Times, Sandy Ingram-Salang, of the city manager’s office, reports there were nine noise complaints last year against sanitation trucks, but no penalties were imposed. She adds companies were contacted and that “a solution was found” in some of the cases. She did not explain what the solution was. But in any case, the problem of curfew-violating garbage pickups continues to fester.

Some garbage companies claim to be unaware of the problem. Shannon Smith, general manager of PDS, said in an interview: “We follow the code to a ‘T’,” adding, “We want to have a good name and reputation out there.” But their reputation may be tattered by their own actions, which, despite Mr. Smith’s assertion, frequently fail to follow the code.

The garbage haulers prefer to operate during the night or early in the morning to avoid traffic, said Lisa Kardell, a spokeswoman for Waste Management. That makes sense, but residents object not primarily because of the time of day, but because of the noise resulting from the banging of the dumpsters.

Yet the city doesn’t seem sympathetic to that concern.

Asked for the city’s position on the banging, Ms. Ingram-Salang said, “It is industry standard for the [trucks] to allow the top of the dumpster to fall open and allow its contents to spill into the hopper.”

That is correct, but it doesn’t answer the question. The garbage companies can follow the industry standard practice without banging, and sometimes they do. Asked via email for clarification, Ms. Ingram-Salang did not respond.

A more direct and sympathetic response comes, ironically, from Waste Management’s Ms. Kardell, who said flatly: “They’re not supposed to be banging.” She said last month that she would pass along that information to drivers at their weekly staff meeting.

But as of March 10, they continued to bang.

The problem isn’t unique to Falls Church City. Fairfax County residents suffer from the noise as well. In Fairfax, solid waste division spokesman Brian Worthy said the county has created decals, that garbage companies must pay for, which are placed on dumpsters near residential areas. The decals specify that those dumpsters cannot be serviced until after the curfew is lifted each day.

Another solution would be to require the haulers to use “rear-load” garbage trucks, like those Falls Church City uses for residential pickups, to service commercial garbage dumpsters adjacent to residential areas. Those don’t bang. But they’re not as big, nor as efficient, because the drivers must get out of the truck at each stop or have a partner who does. Front-loaders have only a driver.

Rear-loaders already ply some areas of the city, because some city businesses have their dumpsters in tight spaces that the big and noisy front-loaders can’t reach. And they’re not that much less efficient, because drivers still have to get out of the front-loaders when the dumpsters are in an enclosure.

The City also could prohibit the banging, which is so loud it might even violate the City noise ordinance’s existing decibel standard. It’s unclear if it does, as no one has ever taken the time to measure it with a decibel meter. But the simplest solution, and the cheapest, which perhaps makes it appropriate for our current moment of austerity, would be for the garbage companies to follow Ms. Kardell’s lead and just decide not to bang.

Shields Proposes 20 Cent Tax Increase, Cuts in Services

By GEORGE BROMLEY
Falls Church Times Staff

March 9, 2010

Faced with a record deficit, City Manager Wyatt Shields recommended a 20 cent increase in the real estate tax rate at last night’s meeting of the Falls Church City Council.  The increase will raise the average home owner’s property tax bill $976 or 15%.  The rate now is $1.07 for every $100 of assessed value.  The current median home value in Falls Church is $587,300.

Although the rate increase likely is the highest in City history, it is insufficient to close the FY 2011 budget gap, so Mr. Shields proposed cuts in staff and services to bridge the difference.

Sixteen positions will be eliminated through early retirement or vacancies.  Employee contributions to retirement funds and health insurance will increase, resulting in cuts in take home pay from 1.6 to 5%.  The current pay freeze also will remain in effect.  Additional savings will be achieved through staff reorganization.

Service cuts include closing the library on Sundays and reducing hours by one hour on weekdays, saving $45,000.  The community center will close an hour earlier on weekends and a half-hour earlier on weekdays.  Urban forestry contracts will be cut back, as will street sweeping.  Cuts in information technology will save $65,000.

Uniformed police patrol, storm water maintenance, and local matches for federal grants will be preserved.  Employee pension funds will remain fully funded.  The GEORGE bus system also survives, though with reduced hours and increased fares.  Its net cost to the general fund is $120,000.

Water rates will remain steady for the fifth straight year.  City sewer rates also will remain unchanged.  Some recreation and permit fees will rise but not significantly.  The meals tax, personal property tax, and decal fees will not increase.

Overall, the proposed $64 million budget is slightly smaller than that for the current year.  General government costs are projected to decline by $2.3 million (7.1%) and school costs by $1.3 million (4.5%).  Primary City expenditures are 43% to education, 11% to public safety, 8% to public works, and 7% to recreation and parks, which includes the library.

Sixty percent of the City’s revenue is derived through property taxes.  Mr. Shields noted that this is a larger share than in years pastg because most other revenue sources are decreasing.  Federal and state funding is declining and the $2 million transfer from the water fund to the general fund has been eliminated due to the recent Fairfax Circuit Court decision against Falls Church.  The absence of the transfer equates to 7 cents on the property tax rate.

Photo-red has not been implemented and now only two, rather than four intersections, are projected to have cameras.  Sales tax revenues are down $715,000, partly due to state corrections to the tax rolls, however meals taxes are expected to increase, in part due to new restaurants opening in the City.

Mr. Shields reported that assessed values in Falls Church are down 6.4% overall.  Specifically:

Single family  -  1.6%
Townhouses  –  1.6%
Condominium  –  9.6%
Commercial  -  13.4%
Apartments  -  12%

Assessed value of new construction, which peaked at $128 million in 2007, is projected at $40 million in 2010, only 20% of which was commercial.  On the other hand, improvements to residential properties have remained stable.

School Board Vice Chair Joan Wodiska followed Mr. Shields presentation, noting that the schools are facing similar reductions in funding while coping with increased enrollment.  The Board’s proposal includes instituting new fees totalling $76,000, including pre-school peer partner charges, higher parking fees for students at George Mason High School, and athletic fees.  The equivalent of 10 positions will be eliminated, partly through reducing staff hours.  The schools’ communications function will be consolidated with the City’s.  Anticipated student enrollment in FY 2011 is 2,032.  The cost per pupil, without benefits, is $13,715.

Mr. Shields then briefly reviewed the Capital Improvements Program, most of which is grant funded.  He stressed that the City must take steps to insure that its fund balance is restored to its appropriate level before undertaking major capital projects as proposed in the CIP.  The minimum level for the fund balance is 8%, though the targeted level is 12%.  However, that level may not be achieved until FY 2014.  One of the capital improvements proposed by the Planning Commission is the replacement of the Property Yard storage shed which was a casualty of the February blizzards.

Vice Mayor Hal Lippman and Councilman Lawrence Webb both called the proposals “sobering” and Councilman Dan Sze stated they left everyone “gasping for breath”, but Mr. Lippman was confident Falls Church would weather the crisis.  “I really think we’re going to get through this and the City will be just fine.”

Mayor Robin Gardner suggested that a citizen volunteer corps might be established to assist in maintenance duties such as cutting grass or painting rails.  She cited parents shoveling the Mount Daniel school playground after the recent snowfalls as an example.

The first reading of the budget is scheduled for the next Council session on March 22.  Town hall meetings will be held on March 20 and April 10.  Second reading and formal adoption will take place on April 26.

The proposed budget is available at the City’s website.

CITY MEETINGS: March 8 – 12

Monday 3/8:  Planning Commission Work Session.  Training Center, 7:00 pm. 

City Council.  Council Chamber, 7:30 pm.   Agenda and documents.

Gifted and Talented Advisory Committee.  Thomas Jefferson School Library, 7:30 pm.

Human Services Advisory Council.  Administrative Conference Room, 7:30 pm.  Agenda.   

Tuesday 3/9:  School Board Work Session.  Council Chamber, 6:30 pm.

Regular School Board Meeting.  Council Chamber, 8:00 pm.

Housing Commission.  Administrative Conference Room, 7:30 pm.

Wednesday 3/10:  Falls Church Cable Access Corporation. FCC Television Studio, George Mason High School, 7124 Leesburg Pike, 7:00 pm.

Environmental Services Council.  Training Center, 7:30 pm.

City Council Appointments Committee.  CANCELLED.

Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation.  CANCELLED.

Thursday 3/11:  Joint School Board, City Council, and Planning Commission Work Session.  Training Center – G Level, 7:30 pm.

Aurora House Citizens Advisory Committee.  Aurora House, 420 South Maple Avenue,  7:30 pm.

Board of Zoning Appeals.  Council Chamber, 7:30 pm.  Agenda.

Friday 3/12:  City Council Economic Development Committee.  Administrative Conference Room, 7:15 am.

Meeting notices are obtained from the City and School Board on-line calendars and from the notice board at the east entrance of City Hall.  Meetings may be subject to re-scheduling or cancellation.

Barry, Kaylin, Hockenberry Running for Council as Independents

By STAN FENDLEY
Falls Church Times Staff 

March 4, 2010 

May’s City Council election took final form this week as Johannah Barry, Ira Kaylin, and Lindy Hockenberry filed to run as independents. 

After exploring the race for months, Barry and Kaylin made it official with an announcement indicating they would run a coordinated campaign with a common platform.  Hockenberry will run separately after losing her bid last month for a Citizens for a Better City endorsement. Read more

CITY FOCUS: City Budget Presented March 8, Spring Break Camps, Rain Barrel Program

Click here to read the March 4-10 CITY FOCUS produced by the City of Falls Church.

School Board Proposes 5 Percent Cut in Overall Budget

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF

March 3, 2010

The Falls Church City School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to propose a budget for the 2011 fiscal year that is 5 percent lower than the current year’s. The FY 2011 proposal is for $37.7 million, compared with $39.8 million in FY 2010.

The budget request would require a City tax allocation of $28.3 million, with the remainder of funds coming from state and federal sources and fees such as food and day care services. Last year, City taxes totaling $29.6 million were transferred to the Schools budget. This year’s request for City tax is $1.3 million (4.5 percent)  less than last year’s final budget.

In a significant change from Superintendent Lois Berlin’s “Tier 2″ recommendation, the Board restored the two teacher work days that were to have been cut to save $246,000. This means that teachers would not have their salaries reduced for not working those two days. And in a last-minute proposal by Berlin, one of the work days would be converted to a normal school day.

The FY 2011 Schools budget contains the following three main components. (Shown in parentheses are the amounts coming from City taxes.)

Operating Fund — $34,865,300    ($27,861,800)

Community Services (day care, etc.) — $1,861,400    ($425,800)

Food Service — $934,500    ($0)

For the Operating Fund, the Board voted for some $600,000 of cuts greater than the “Tier 2″ proposal from Superintendent Berlin. Doing so brought the total Operating Fund budget under $35 million, which Board members agreed was significant.

Board members emphasized that their decisions were strongly influenced by community input urging that cuts be kept “away from the classroom.”  Staffing cuts were confined to one central office administrator, one full time and six part time professional and instructional support staff positions, and two full time and two part time support staff positions.  In addition, three 12- month positions were reduced to 10 or 11 months, and some support staff positions lost up to four days in planning time.

The Board also moved to further consolidate services with the City government. This means the elimination of the position of communications director, held by Karen Acar. Remaining Schools communications staff will report to the City’s communications director, Barbara Gordon, and/or Superintendent Berlin.

Another issue discussed at length was whether to eliminate the elementary school predecessor to the IB Program, known as PYP (Primary Years Program).  Ultimately the Board agreed to put PYP on “pause” but to continue to pay annual enrollment fees, thereby saving $14,000 and the ability to easily resume the program in the future.

The largest single budget cut was a reduction in retirement contributions of nearly $1 million. However, health insurance contributions increased by $227,000.

Not included in the Schools budget is the debt service for school bonds, which is part of the City’s general fund expense. Debt service for school bonds in FY 2010 was $3.5 million.

The ball is now in City Manager Wyatt Shields’ court, as he prepares an overall budget recommendation to submit to City Council on March 8. The recommendation will include a “transfer” amount to the Schools budget.

The final budget will be approved by City Council on April 26.

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