AVN’s production values are impeccable. It’s remarkable that the county is producing interesting community video content that could be mistaken for a Food Network show or a local news broadcast.
But it’s a bit discouraging that, before we linked to them, the two videos had barely 100 views between them on YouTube. It begs the question: is there a better way to promote AVN online?
Notably, funding for the David M. Brown Planetarium was partially restored. Originally set to be closed and converted into classroom space for Washington-Lee High School, the planetarium will now be staffed part-time.
Instead of serving K-5 students five days a week, starting this fall the planetarium will serve K-2 students two days a week. There will also be some flexibility to hire a an hourly worker to open the planetarium on weekends.
Together with fee increases totaling about $71 a year, the tax burden on the average household will increase by about $346 per year.
Arlington’s residential property tax burden will now total $0.958 cents per $100 of assessed value, which is still lower than most neighboring jurisdictions.
State May Force Arlington To Cough Up $1.5 Million — Arlington County, already raising taxes and cutting services due to a multi-million dollar budget deficit, may be forced to send $1.5 million to the state in the form of cash or reductions in state-funded programs. Virginia lawmakers are forcing localities to make the payments to plug the state’s own budget gap, according to the Washington Examiner.
Arlington Man Found Dead in D.C. — Arlington resident Isidoro Flores, 44, was found shot to death in northeast Washington early Saturday morning. His body was found near a tractor-trailer with an open passenger door, reports ABC7.
But this is not SimCity 2000. It’s Arlington County. And here, increasing taxes provokes a fairly balanced response between those who think taxes are high enough already and those who take an “increase my taxes, please” approach.
Of the people who spoke at Thursday night’s tax rate hearing, eight asked the board to increase taxes to the maximum advertised rate to prevent cuts to programs and services.
The following represents the views of the author, not of ARLnow.com.
We are pleased that Arlington County actively promotes cycling, and that County Board Chair Jay Fisette has made it a central part of his agenda this year. In fact, the County Manager’s proposed budget does not specifically target any bike-related funding for cuts (to the best of our knowledge). But we do worry that some may mistake such funding for simple recreational funding. This is not the case and the County Board should resist any such suggestion as it finalizes the budget, perhaps being tempted to cut already-low funding further.
Arlington County, long known for its stringent parking enforcement, may be on the verge of raising parking fines by 25 to 40 percent. The county board gave itself the option to raise parking violation fees during Saturday’s board meeting, according to the Sun Gazette.
It’s unclear whether the measure will make it into the county’s final FY 2011 budget.
Primary reporting for this article was provided by Barry Skidmore of People Powered Arlington.
Property taxes are going up, and on Saturday residents got a preview of just how high rates may go.
The county’s proposed budget for 2011 would raise taxes on the average Arlington family by $235 and — among other cuts — halve the county’s community policing force.
Acting County Manager Barbara Donnellan revealed her FY 2011 budget proposal at a county board meeting Wednesday. Facing a $65 million budget deficit, Donnellan said tough decisions needed to be made.
Arlington County’s $1 million snow removal budget was exceeded during this past weekend’s snow storm. Although exact figures are not available, the impending 16 to 26 inches of snow is guaranteed to push the budget further into the red.
Other local government are also feeling the pinch from this winter’s back-to-back-to-back storms. VDOT and DDOT are well over-budget, WTOP reported this week.
With the first flakes beginning to fall, county snow removal crews are getting ready to tackle yet another significant snow storm. The National Weather Service is calling for 3-6 inches of snow, with the heaviest snowfall between 10:00 PM and 4:00 AM tonight.
The county says about 45 snow plows will be put into service tonight. Crews will work in 12-hour shifts to try to get streets cleared in time for the morning rush. Since first priority is given to the most heavily-traveled roads, expect most residential streets to be at least partially snow-covered.
