Growls

The Arlington County Board adopted the Fiscal Year 2010 budget last night, approving 24 individual budget resolutions -- from the budget and appropriations resolution (agenda item 46A) to the affordable housing resolution (46X). The Board balanced the budget by approving an increase of 2.7 cent increase in the real estate tax rate, which will now be 87.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, plus a large number of fee increases.

The budget represents an increase of 0.6%, as described in an online article by the Arlington Sun Gazette:

“The total rate of growth in the budget, 0.6 percent over the current fiscal year, is “by far the lowest budget growth in the modern era of Arlington,” County Manager Ron Carlee said. Until the recent real estate bust and economic downturn, the county government’s tax coffers have been filled to overflowing, due largely to increasing home assessments.”

In comments, both during and after final adoption, Board chairman Barbara Favola said it was the “hardest budget yet . . . she has worked on.” Does that mean that budget-cutting is hard work while ladling out taxpayer money over the past decade was easy work?

Here is the county’s press release and the Board’s webpage where you can find the Board reports for items 46A through 46X. In addition, visit the Department of Management and Finance's webpage for the FY 2010 budget, which provides a wealth of information about the adopted budget, e.g., budget fact sheet, a 25-year history of budget growth, table of position changes, and a regional comparison of taxes and fees.

We’ll have more to growl about on the adopted FY 2010 budget in the days to come as well as in the next newsletter.