The Arlington County Board has voted to advertise a 2-cent increase to the real estate tax rate, slightly higher than the rate proposed in this year’s budget draft.
If enacted in its entirety, the jump would increase the county’s tax rate to $1.053 per $100 assessed valuation, adding a further tax burden on homeowners already facing higher assessment values.
County Board Chairman Matt de Ferranti said the advertisement merely sets the maximum rate that can be considered. “We can come down” later in the budget process, he said.
Board member Susan Cunningham pressed her colleagues to advertise a 1.75-cent increase, still higher than the 1.5-cent increase that County Manager Mark Schwartz proposed in his draft of the $1.69 billion budget. She was ultimately the lone vote against the 2-cent alternative.
Cunningham said homeowners are facing many difficult personal circumstances in the current economic environment, and should not be hit with a larger tax increase than county leaders deem absolutely necessary.
“We are in a very challenging moment for many different folks in our community,” she said.
The budget proposed by Schwartz is ever so slightly lower than the adopted $1.69 billion fiscal 2026 budget plan now in effect. But because of ongoing declines in the value of office buildings, more of the tax burden is being shifted to the residential sector, where prices keep rising.
If the 2-cent advertised tax-rate increase is adopted in full, the tax bill for a single-family home valued at $1.2 million last year would rise $645 — 5.2% — to $13,065, counting both the tax-rate increase and the average 3.2% assessment increase reported in January.
Board members also voted to advertise a host of fee increases impacting both residential and commercial property owners, as well as the general public.
Public hearings on the budget and tax rates will happen in late March, with Board adoption set for April. While the fiscal 2027 budget goes into effect July 1, the tax rate will be retroactive to the start of the calendar year.
Tax bills to property owners will go out shortly after the rates are adopted, with the first half of taxes due in early June.
Arlington’s plan for a tax-rate increase contrasts with Fairfax County, where County Executive Bryan Hill last week proposed a $5.7 billion budget that keeps the base tax rate unchanged at $1.1225 per $100 assessed valuation.
Falls Church officials are also attempting to get through budget season without a tax-rate increase. City Manager Wyatt Shields will unveil his draft proposal in March.
Also at the Feb. 24 meeting:
Leckey Gardens redevelopment wins final approval: County Board members approved zoning changes authorizing the first major housing proposal coming out of 2023’s Langston Boulevard Area Plan.
Board members voted 5-0 in support of True Ground Housing Partner’s plan to raze the existing three-building, 40-unit Leckey Gardens Apartments and replace them with an 11-story building totaling 249 units of committed affordable housing.
Units will range from one to four bedrooms. The parcel is located at 2031-37 N. Woodrow Street in the Waverly Hills neighborhood.
“This is an excellent result — imperfect, but solid,” County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said leading up to the vote.
Board members had spent much of their Feb. 21 meeting discussing the project and listening to public testimony. They put off final action for three days in an effort to reach a consensus on a number of outstanding issues.
Those extra days resulted in final amendments on issues including tree preservation and the building’s overall environmental footprint.
While the project won approval, not all on the Board dais were thrilled with how things played out during a lengthy review process.
Board member Susan Cunningham said she hoped future development projects in the corridor would “get the compromises earlier in the game, so we’re not rushing at the end.”
“It was truly exhausting for all parties,” Cunningham said. “We need to do better.”
The Langston Boulevard Area Plan envisions denser development in parts of the five-mile Arlington corridor that runs from Rosslyn to East Falls Church. The Leckey Gardens plan is the first residential redevelopment to move through the county’s review process under the plan.
Board members memorialize Judge William Newman Jr.: Board members honored retired Circuit Court Judge William Newman, who died on Feb. 10.
Newman was 75 at the time of his death. Prior to three decades of service on the Circuit Court, including 20 years as chief judge, Newman had served on the County Board.
He was a native of Arlington and in 1987 was elected the first Black member of the County Board, which was established in the 1930s. He served on the Board until being elected to the Circuit Court in 1993 by the General Assembly.
Resolution affirms support for 9/11 visitor-education center: Board members adopted a resolution reaffirming the county government’s support for establishing a visitor-education center near the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
Groundbreaking for the planned center is slated for later this year, close to the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Foundation, expressed thanks for the county government’s support of the initiative.
