The results of an audit on Arlington Independent Media are out, revealing substantial gaps and errors in how the nonprofit handled some $2 million in county-provided funds.
The audit report appears to have been uploaded by Arlington County yesterday, the day after ARLnow reported on delays in its release. It suggests that AIM failed to provide adequate documentation for over $1 million in expenditures, including payments to dozens of third-party contractors.
An impending deadline for Arlington Independent Media’s broadcasting license is reinvigorating the nonprofit’s requests for county help.
AIM — which has been attempting to reboot after laying off its entire staff last March amid significant debt and a pending county audit — has until March 21 to resume broadcasting at WERA 96.7.
Arlington’s top prosecutor is seeking more state and county funds this year — while trying to keep pace with an ongoing rollercoaster of federal funding decisions.
Before a now-rescinded memo on a federal spending freeze sent agencies around the country scrambling for answers this week, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti was already lobbying for a boost in local funding for her office.
Arlington leaders are seeking help from the state government in boosting efforts to convert aging office buildings to residential use.
“We have some buildings that are great candidates” for conversion, County Board member Maureen Coffey said at a Dec. 3 work session with members of the county’s legislative delegation.
Federal funding is on track to bring more housing for many of the county’s most vulnerable residents as well as trail improvements and new playground equipment.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday $5.9 million in funding for Arlington initiatives in its annual budget. A little more than half of that funding — $3.3 million — is for housing for low-income residents, domestic violence survivors and chronically unsheltered people.
The Arlington County Board is considering a potential property tax hike that could be even higher than what County Manager Mark Schwartz proposed.
Board members yesterday (Tuesday) voted 5-0 to advertise hearings on a maximum property tax rate of $1.038 per $100 of assessed value, a 2.5 cent increase from 2023. That is 1 cent higher than the increase of 1.5 cents that Schwartz proposed in his $1.62 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2025.
State-funded safety improvements to the Mount Vernon Trail are one step closer to getting underway.
The Arlington County Board is set to review on Saturday a memorandum of agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation, the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration governing the roles of the respective agencies throughout the project.
An uptick in childcare centers in Arlington has made a dent in the local care shortage, according to new county data.
Since 2017, the number of childcare center slots increased by 47%, or 1,690 slots. That may be good news for tackling low availability in Arlington — which stands out among Northern Virginia neighbors for how few slots it has — but one shortage remains.
Arlington’s local radio station has been playing the same music on repeat since December.
The continuous lo-fi beats, noted by listeners more than a month ago, are a result of aging equipment and financing delays complicating Arlington Independent Media‘s move into a new office building that is home to a transmitter critical to AIM’s operations.
This weekend, the Arlington County Board adopted a new agreement governing how Arlington’s public access station, Arlington Independent Media, can request funding.
AIM has a claim on Public, Educational and Government (PEG) funds that Arlington County receives as part of its franchise agreements with Comcast and Verizon. It competes with Arlington Public Schools and county government initiatives for this pot of money, which is dwindling as people end their cable subscriptions.
Arlington County is doling out leftover funds from the 2024 fiscal year toward tackling youth substance abuse, public safety and behavioral health challenges it is facing.
Those are three of several buckets that will benefit from the $46.3 million in discretionary close-out funds — almost double what the county had to spend after last fiscal year, $26.9 million. The County Board approved County Manager Mark Schwartz’s spending plan last night (Tuesday).
A dozen historical preservation projects across Arlington, from historically accurate home renovations to community-based projects and research, have received county funding through a new program.
The county doled out roughly $256,000 to 12 of the 19 applicants for the inaugural round of the Arlington County Historic Preservation Fund.
