budget | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published April 9, 2018 at 10:00AM | Updated April 9, 2018 at 10:26AM

First Responders Say Starting Pay Is Too Low — “Patrick Gorman was just beginning to enjoy his job as an Arlington, Va., police officer when he decided to quit. His wife was pregnant with twins, and they already had a 2-year-old. Even with both working full time, he said, they couldn’t afford to live in the area. Two months out of training, he left the department in February and moved to North Carolina.” [Washington Post]

Large Arlington Contingent for Boston Marathon — Some 77 runners from Arlington are set to compete in the prestigious Boston Marathon a week from today. [InsideNova]

News

Arlington’s First Responders Ask for Better Pay

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published April 4, 2018 at 9:45AM | Updated April 4, 2018 at 1:46PM

First responders protest stagnant wages

Police and fire officials flooded last night’s (April 3) budget hearing to speak out against stagnant wages.

Public safety personnel say that police and fire wages are too low to allow them to live in Arlington long-term. Many are joining up, but soon realizing that their pay is insufficient to live in the county and raise a family.

News

County Budget Proposal Includes New Parking Meter Rate Hikes

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published March 27, 2018 at 1:45PM

The county manager’s proposed 2019 budget includes new parking meter rate hikes.

Short term parking, defined as less than four hours, would go up a quarter to $1.75 per hour. Long term parking, more than four hours, would also go up a quarter to $1.50 per hour.

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

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 2, 2018 at 8:30AM

Golf Course Tax Bill Passes — A bill that would provide a massive tax break to two Arlington country clubs has passed the Virginia General Assembly. The bill, if signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), would cost Arlington $1.5 million or more in tax revenue. [Washington Post]

Military Couple Fights Wife’s Deportation — The wife of a retired Army special forces veteran was to face deportation in an Arlington-based immigration court next week, but the Dept. of Homeland Security is now offering to drop the proceedings. Prior to the reversal, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) called said via social media: “Military families should not be targeted like this. It’s unconscionable.” [Military Times, Twitter]

News

Police Department Plans Restructuring Amid Staffing Challenges

By ARLnow.com

Published February 26, 2018 at 11:45AM | Updated February 26, 2018 at 12:39PM

File photo

The Arlington County Police Department is planning a “strategic restructuring” as a wave of retirements and departures leaves significant gaps in its staffing.

Services could be reduced as the department’s functional strength falls to a projected 50 officers below its authorized force of 370, according to an internal memo sent by police chief M. Jay Farr and obtained by ARLnow.com.

News

County Board Advertises No Tax Rate Increase for FY 2019

By ARLnow.com

Published February 24, 2018 at 3:55PM

Arlington County’s property tax rate will not be increasing in Fiscal Year 2019, though many homeowners will be paying higher taxes overall.

The Board advertised a tax rate of $1.006 per $100 in assessed value, including the stormwater tax, which is unchanged from the current fiscal year and in line with County Manager Mark Schwartz’s recommended budget. Even if the rate stays the same when the Board adopts its final budget on April 21, taxes for homeowners will be going up.

Schools

Class Sizes Would Increase Under Proposed APS Budget

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published February 23, 2018 at 9:45AM | Updated February 23, 2018 at 10:12AM

Class sizes at Arlington Public Schools may increase as the school system continues to see rising enrollment.

Superintendent Patrick Murphy proposed a fiscal year 2019 budget of $636.7 million at Thursday’s School Board meeting. That’s an increase of 3.8 percent from the 2018 budget, lower than the 5.4 percent increase from 2017 in to 2018. Murphy said APS is facing the same budget pressures as the county, which is projecting only a modest increase in tax revenue.

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.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published February 21, 2018 at 8:15AM | Updated June 29, 2018 at 10:31AM

Pentagon City Metro Tunnel Now Open — At long last, the pedestrian tunnel from the corner of S. Hayes Street and 12th Street S. to the Pentagon City Metro station has opened. [Twitter]

Firefighters Push for Raise — IAFF Local 2800, which represents Arlington firefighters and paramedics, is pushing for a raise in this year’s county budget process. The group says Arlington’s compensation for public safety employees “is at the bottom of the DMV.” [Twitter]

News

Kaine: Budget Deal is “Good for the Country and Good for Virginia”

By Bridget Reed Morawski

Published February 9, 2018 at 10:45AM | Updated February 9, 2018 at 11:30AM

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is calling the bipartisan budget deal, which passed early Friday morning after a five-hour government shutdown, “good for the country and good for Virginia.”

The deal, which adds billions of dollars in federal spending for military, disaster relief, and domestic programs, comes weeks after a historic package of tax cuts championed by President Trump and the GOP was signed into law.