Program cuts and staff furloughs could become a reality in Arlington if tax revenue continues to fall below expectations over the next two months.
County Manager Mark Schwartz said at a March 11 forum that there’s a possibility “we will have to shut down some of our services” and temporarily send staff home. Any cutbacks likely wouldn’t hit until the last two months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“I am hopeful and pray we don’t have to do that — we don’t want to do that,” Schwartz said at the event sponsored by Advance Arlington.
One possibility he floated was trimming library hours, at least until the fiscal 2027 budget kicks in on July 1.
“Our revenue is soft. We’ve got to hit those [budget] numbers,” Schwartz said.
County Board members last spring adopted a $1.69 billion fiscal 2026 spending plan. While the county government typically reports healthy surpluses of tens of millions of dollars at the end of fiscal years, that was not the case last fall, Schwartz said.
“We ended up fiscal 2025 with about a million dollars,” he said. “That really freaked me out. You can’t end up that close.”
State law does not permit localities to operate with annual budget deficits.
In recent months, Schwartz — who has been county manager for 10 years — has issued directives to trim funding where possible.
When it comes to discretionary funding, “I have told staff, ‘cut it out,'” he said.
County Board members are currently reviewing the fiscal 2027 budget package. Schwartz’s proposal, announced in February, totals $1.69 billion — almost identical to the fiscal 2026 package.
It marked a very rare occasion when a budget proposal didn’t show a year-over-year increase in Arlington.
Despite the flat spending levels, county homeowners will pay more next year because declines in value of commercial properties are forcing more of the tax burden onto residential property.
Those increases for homeowners could become an ongoing fact of life, Schwartz warned at the Advance Arlington event. County officials are hopeful that valuation declines in the commercial sector have bottomed out, but they can’t be sure.
“It’s unsettling,” said Kate Ange, acting director of Arlington Economic Development. “There is a lot of uncertainty.”
