budget cuts | ARLnow.com

Published July 12, 2018 at 1:45PM

Courtesy of Blake Tippens, Drew Model School

Arlington County police are planning a new round of community outreach meetings starting tonight (Thursday), the first quarterly gatherings under a restructuring plan designed to roll back some of the department’s services.

Communities in the northern half of the county will get a chance to meet with a police outreach team at the Bozman Government Center (2100 Clarendon Blvd) at 7 p.m. Thursday night. Anyone living in the southern sections of Arlington will have a similar opportunity this coming Wednesday (July 18) at the Fairlington Community Center (3308 S. Stafford Street).

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 22, 2018 at 9:15AM | Updated June 29, 2018 at 9:11AM

Two ART Routes End Today — ART Routes 54 and 92 will cease operations after the end of the day today. Per a press release: “The two routes were eliminated as part of Arlington County’s FY 2019 budget and to improve efficiency of ART service. Both bus routes perform below ART’s minimum service standards of 15 passengers per hour.” [Arlington Transit]

Arlington Cemetery Station to Close This Weekend — The Arlington Cemetery Metro station will be closed this weekend so workers can install cables “for cellular communication,” WMATA says. Shuttle buses will be available but the Blue Line will only run from Franconia-Springfield to National Airport. [DCist]

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 12, 2018 at 10:35AM

Intersection of Clarendon Blvd and Washington Blvd in Clarendon in June 2018 (Staff photo)

Primary Voting Underway — It’s an election day in Virginia. On the ballot in Arlington is the Democratic race for County Board, between Chanda Choun and Matt de Ferranti, and the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, with candidates Corey Stewart, Nick Freitas and E. W. Jackson. Voting will continue through 7 p.m. [Twitter]

Post-Parade Party in Courthouse — Those heading to the Capitals Stanley Cup victory parade downtown today can head on back to Arlington for an afterparty at Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill, hosted by the Caps blog Russian Machine Never Breaks. The event starts at 3 p.m. [RMNB]

News

With Budget Cuts on the Way, Arlington Libraries Looking for Feedback on Services to Save

By Alex Koma

Published May 22, 2018 at 3:45PM | Updated May 22, 2018 at 4:36PM

(Updated at 4:25 p.m.) Arlington’s public libraries are bracing for impending budget cuts — including a 17 percent cut to its collections budget — and they’re asking for your input on what services staff should protect from those spending slashes.

The county’s public library system is currently running a survey on its website, looking for feedback on “what collections we will provide and maintain” moving forward. The survey will stay open through June 8, and staff wrote that the results will help guide their decision-making on how library services change going forward.

Schools

School Board Avoids Class Size Increases in New Budget, But Warns of Trouble Ahead

By Alex Koma

Published May 4, 2018 at 3:45PM

The Arlington School Board managed to avoid class size increases in its new budget, but the county’s worsening financial outlook has school leaders warning that future spending plans could include additional painful cuts.

The School Board voted unanimously Thursday to approve a roughly $637 million budget for fiscal year 2019, though board members expressed plenty of trepidation about the document.

News

County Budget Nixes Some Proposed Cuts, Boosts First Responder Pay

By ARLnow.com

Published April 23, 2018 at 6:35PM | Updated October 18, 2018 at 2:17PM

The Arlington County Board on Saturday unanimously passed a $1.276 billion balanced budget that includes a number of fee increases but no real estate tax rate hike.

The FY 2019 budget notably restores $70,000 in funding for Arlington Independent Media — County Manager Mark Schwartz proposed cutting about $90,000 in county funds for the community TV and radio broadcaster — after AIM collected more than 1,300 online petition signatures against the cut. The Board also boosted first responder pay, particularly starting pay which police and firefighter associations say is low and hurting recruitment, by $1.6 million above the manager’s recommendation, which already included a pay boost.

Schools

APS Budget Proposal’s World Language Reductions Irk Parents

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published March 27, 2018 at 10:45AM

Some Arlington Public Schools parents are unhappy with proposed budget cuts that would lead to fewer weekly world language instructional hours.

The proposed 2019 APS budget includes a number of reductions that aim to resolve the “$16 million in reductions this year in the face of our continuing growing enrollment needs,” wrote APS assistant superintendent Linda Erdos in an email to ARLnow.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published March 27, 2018 at 8:35AM

Shake Shack, Philz and More Coming to Ballston — “Ballston will beef up its fast-casual restaurant offerings by the end of this year, with Shake Shack, We the Pizza, Philz Coffee and Cava all slated to lease space in the newly dubbed Ballston Exchange project. Ballston Exchange, formerly known as Stafford Place I and II, was until 2017 home to the National Science Foundation.” [Washington Business Journal]

Outdoor Lab Squeezed by Rising Enrollment — “A growing student body at the elementary-school level may soon mean there are not enough days in the school year to send the usual cadre of students to the Arlington Outdoor Lab, located in Fauquier County.” [InsideNova]

News

Proposed County Budget Would Eliminate Two ART Bus Routes

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published March 23, 2018 at 10:45AM | Updated March 23, 2018 at 11:27AM

An ART bus driving around the county (file photo)

The County Manager’s fiscal year 2019 proposed budget includes service eliminations to Arlington Transit bus routes 92 and 54.

The reductions would save the county $356,771 in 2019, according to the proposed budget. Public hearings on the budget and tax rate are scheduled for Tuesday, April 3 and Thursday, April 5, respectively.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published March 15, 2018 at 8:45AM | Updated March 15, 2018 at 9:08AM

ATS Parents Peeved About Overcrowding — Arlington Traditional School parents are protesting the addition of classes and relocatable classrooms to the already-overcrowded school. [Arlington Connection]

Alliterative Pothole Patching Update — Via Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services: “Punctilious, present pothole people have plugged 500-plus problems post-2017 but prefer a plethora for practice. Please provide. http://topics.arlingtonva.us/reportproblem or call 703-228-6570.” [Twitter]

News

JUST IN: Proposed County Budget Would Trim Programs, Keep Tax Rate Steady

By ARLnow.com

Published February 22, 2018 at 5:40PM | Updated February 23, 2018 at 8:23AM

Community paper shredding events. Arlington’s poet laureate. The Citizen newsletter.

Those are a few of the relatively small cuts that add up to enough savingsin County Manager Mark Schwartz’s new proposed budget to bridge Arlington’s $20 million budget gap.

Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Funding Metro, Schools Is Possible Without Tax Rate Hike

By ARLnow.com

Published March 30, 2017 at 11:15AM

The following letter was sent to members of the County Board, ARLnow.com and other community organizations by Bluemont resident and local activist Suzanne Smith Sundburg, who says the proposed tax rate hike is regressive and unnecessary. Arlington County is in the midst of its annual budget process.

Dear Chair Fisette and members of the Arlington County Board,