The City of Falls Church plans to spend more on paving roads in the coming year, but it will still have unfunded needs.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes $1.4 million for road-paving initiatives, up from $870,000 in the coming fiscal year.
The race for four seats on the Falls Church City Council is underway.
Incumbents Laura Downs and David Snyder have already qualified for the Nov. 4 ballot. Several other aspirants, including incumbent Marybeth Connelly, have started the process of qualifying, city elections director David Bjerke told ARLnow.
The amount that the City of Falls Church pays Arlington County for fire and ambulance services could be about to surge.
Under a proposed new agreement, the projected cost of these services would increase by 20% — from an anticipated $3.24 million to $3.89 million.
The Falls Church City Council has reached a compromise on accessory dwelling units, allowing for by-right development on most single-family parcels.
The unanimous 7-0 vote followed public discussions with the public last summer and nearly a year of further deliberation. Most public speakers showed up in support of the decision, although some controversy remains on issues such as setbacks.
The Falls Church City Council is keeping the door open to maintaining the same tax rate in the coming fiscal year.
Council members unanimously voted on Monday night to advertise a maximum tax rate of $1.21 per $100 assessed valuation — unchanged from the current rate.
New data on sales tax and meals tax revenues in Falls Church might show the first headwinds of a looming economic storm, leaders say.
Sales-tax revenues in the city were flat in February despite the opening of a Whole Foods supermarket in early February. Revenue from the city’s meals tax also wasn’t as high as officials had anticipated.
Falls Church City Council members appear as divided as ever on how costs for trash collection in single-family neighborhoods should be funded.
At a Monday work session, Council members split almost down the middle on whether to shift to a fee-for-service model or to stick with funding weekly trash services through the city. More specifically, they are still debating whether they can work out details in the few weeks remaining before the city’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget is due for adoption.
Falls Church officials are considering requiring future commercial developers to meet minimum tree-planting requirements.
The number of projects that any change could impact might be small, however.
Falls Church residents are less satisfied with their roads than they used to be, a new survey suggests.
Still, they continue to have a generally positive view of city services and their community’s overall quality of life.
Significant divisions remain as Falls Church City Council members approach final-decision time to enact rules regulating accessory-dwelling units.
“There are so many concerns” still to be worked through, Council member Marybeth Connelly said at a March 10 work session on the topic.
Additional no-turn-on-red traffic restrictions are coming to Falls Church, and even more may be on the way.
Police Chief Shahram Fard told City Council members that the Department of Public Works has approved several of his requests for additional no-turn-on-red restrictions along Broad Street.
Falls Church officials appear willing to hold off, for now, on moving City Council elections to a ranked-choice format.
“It might be better to wait,” city elections director David Bjerke said at a Monday Falls Church Electoral Board meeting.
