To maintain services amid falling commercial real estate values, Arlington may end up reaching even deeper into homeowners’ pockets in the years to come.
At a March 11 forum sponsored by Advance Arlington, County Manager Mark Schwartz warned of even more pressure to raise taxes on homeowners due to a drop in the assessed valuation of commercial properties.
Making ranked-choice voting permanent and potentially banning campaign signage on local rights-of-way top the agenda for County Board members’ meeting this weekend.
Other items scheduled for discussion at the Saturday meeting include an $8 million contract for Wilson Blvd street improvements, a $5 million contract for a culvert replacement on N. Dumbarton Street and a hearing on relocating the Madison Community Center’s early voting site during renovations there.
Larger numbers of seniors and declining numbers of younger adults are forcing Arlington leaders to rethink how to allocate services in the fiscal 2027 budget.
Demographic shifts are also calling into question whether the cost of living is making it difficult for residents between ages 20 and 34 to establish roots in the county.
An overhaul of the sports fields near Kenmore Middle School is expected to begin construction later this year.
Construction could start in the fall and take about a year. In place of the existing, aging fields would rise a complex providing two baseball/softball diamonds plus rectangular fields for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.
A multi-year renovation project is about to begin at Arlington’s Water Pollution Control Plant.
The $32.2 million first phase will be part of an almost $200 million undertaking “to make the facility cleaner, greener and ready for the future,” county officials said in announcing the upcoming start of the initiative.
The county government has issued 15 citations for failure to clear snow and ice after last month’s storm and responded to hundreds of complaints.
Nearly 630 complaints about violations were recorded by county officials in the days and weeks after the winter storm, county spokesman Ryan Hudson told ARLnow.
The county manager’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee is ready to move beyond the planning stage and start impacting policy decisions.
“We have a really good base” to build on, committee chair Samantha Perez said at the organization’s first meeting of 2026.
Arlington officials say they’ve exhausted all options to settle up to half a million dollars in debts from Arlington Independent Media (AIM) after the organization’s operational collapse.
Local leaders have “spent a lot of time and energy” to make sure there is no replication of the situation with other grantees, County Manager Mark Schwartz said at a Jan. 22 meeting of the county’s Audit Committee.
A rising number of syphilis infections in Arlington is driving a push to do better at testing and treating the sexually transmitted infection.
In the most recent data, from 2024, Arlington’s rate of syphilis infection — 31.2 cases per 100,000 population — was nearly 50% higher than the Virginia rate of 21.4 cases per 100,000, and was more than double that of Northern Virginia as a whole (14.3 cases per 100,000).
Arlington is gearing up to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday with a history festival and, potentially, a bell-ringing, outdoor movies and more.
“It’s a great opportunity” to bring history to the people, said Peter Vaselopulos, president of the Arlington Historical Society.
Arlington County community centers, libraries and other facilities will be closed Monday as the cleanup continues from today’s winter storm.
About 7-8 inches of snow and sleet fell in Arlington. Hours of sleet has resulted in an especially dense and heavy covering over local roads and sidewalks, making plowing and shoveling more difficult.
Before Arlington moves to change its form of government, it needs to educate more residents on what the current structure is and why reforms might be needed, one County Board member believes.
“Walk down a street in Ballston, Columbia Pike, anywhere — most folks will look at you like a deer in the headlights” when governance is brought up, Julius “J.D.” Spain, Sr., said at the Jan. 13 Arlington County Civic Federation meeting.
