In a cost-saving move, Falls Church leaders on Monday (May 12) voted to reconfigure how the city oversees its economic-development, planning, zoning and permitting operations.
In adopting the fiscal 2026 budget, City Council members eliminated the position of Community Planning and Economic Development Services director.
The post has been vacant since longtime director James Snyder retired earlier this year.
The elimination is expected to save $210,000 a year and was the most significant cutback as Council members found the funds to lower the real-estate tax rate by one cent to $1.20 per $100 assessed valuation.
While City Manager Wyatt Shields proposed elimination of the position as a cost-saving measure, he told Council members it could result in challenges, particularly on the economic-development front.
The director “is a key leader on city staff for attracting new businesses and investments to the city,” Shields wrote in a memo to the Council.
“Responsibilities include building and maintaining strategic relationships with developers, business leaders, and regional economic organizations, and this role is particularly critical during economic downturns,” Shields wrote in advance of budget adoption.
Under a plan presented to Council members, the four division chiefs that had reported to Snyder — the city’s planning director, economic-development director, zoning administrator and building official — would instead be overseen by one of two deputy city managers.
Shields also said other staff members, including himself, would need to step in to support the city’s economic-development efforts.
The matter was not discussed extensively at the May 12 Council meeting, but concerns about the economic environment and looming challenges were.
“We have some very serious and difficult years ahead,” Council member David Snyder said. He predicted that “things are going to get worse rather than better.”
Mayor Letty Hardi said Council members and staff would be engaged in a balancing act to determine how to move forward.
“The community expects us to be thoughtful and responsive and collaborative,” she said.
Council members on May 12 voted to lower the real-estate tax rate for fiscal 2026 by a penny to $1.20. Earlier in the budget season, Shields had proposed cutting it from the current $1.21 to $1.185, but economic uncertainty led city leaders to pull back from that level of reduction.
Even with the cut in the rate, most Falls Church homeowners will see increased tax bills, owing to higher assessed valuations. The increase on a home valued at the city’s median of $1,022,400 would increase $553 to $12,269.
No change in City Council field for November: Three incumbent City Council members have filed re-election paperwork, city election officials said Tuesday (May 13), with several challengers in the process of being certified for the ballot.
The current and prospective field represents no change from late April.
Incumbents David Snyder, Laura Downs and Marybeth Connelly have filed to be on the ballot, city director of elections David Bjerke said at the May 13 Electoral Board meeting.
That leaves Debora Schantz-Hiscott as the lone incumbent whose term expires later this year as having not yet filed.
Two non-incumbents are working to meet filing requirements, Bjerke said. All candidates have until June 17 to do so.
Falls Church municipal elections are nonpartisan and candidates run as independents. Races are run in odd-numbered years, with four City Council seats on the ballot in one cycle (as in 2025) and three seats up two years later.
The city’s mayor is chosen by Council members from among their ranks.
