Update at 3:20 p.m. — The county has removed the video. The video was not supposed to have been made public yet, says Department of Environmental Services spokeswoman Myllisa Kennedy.
The Department of Environmental Services may be Arlington County government’s largest single department.
With about 375 full-time employees and an operating budget of more than $70 million, the department is in charge of maintaining the county’s streets, street signs, street lights, water lines, and sewers. It also collects your trash and leaves, runs the county’s snow plows and operates transit programs.
A new video (above) from Arlington County explores the many ways DES is a part of our every day lives.
The video contains a number of staggering facts about the infrastructure within our 26 square mile county, the smallest self-governing county — geographically — in the United States.
For instance, Arlington maintains 961 lane miles of roads, some 100,000 traffic signs, 526 miles of water lines, and enough sanitary sewer lines to stretch from here to Boston, Mass. Also featured in the video: a new remote-controlled camera that searches sewer lines for pipes that have broken due to tree roots and other factors.
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DES is the largest department.
What about the ArlCoPSs — its annual budget is ? and number of employees are ?
Schools are not operated by the Arlington County Government.
Doesn’t the ArlCo board have ultimate authority over the school budget?
schools is seperate from the county govt.
I guess DES didn’t want anybody to see the video?
I believe the Department of Human Services (DHS) has almost twice as many employees as DES.
The budget published by the county roughly supports your belief:
http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ManagementAndFinance/budget/file77004.pdf
That said, the gap in total $$ spent is narrower than your statement would suggest.
Does anyone know the basis for the statement that the department of environmental services is larger?
ACPD (Police) FY2011 budget is $58.4 million but has 466 employees…
What’s the big secret? Let the video go free!
Sorry for any confusion. The video simply isn’t a finished product. We’ll be sure to make it available to the public as soon as it is complete.
The number of employees seems incorrect for being Arlington County’s largest department. Can the number of DES employees be reverified?
Less videos, more patched potholes. Get back to work
We’ll get back to you shortly with the official number of DES employees.