New restroom facilities at Gunston Park are expected to cost around $1 million — a grand total arising from the price of materials, installation and associated costs.
County officials present the cost as a financial win for taxpayers, even if not everyone sees it that way.
Budget cuts at Arlington’s historic preservation office could keep services relatively bare-bones, county officials acknowledge.
“We will need to be doing some adjustments — see what other options we have,” said Lorin Faris, the county government’s historic preservation supervisor, at the May 20 meeting of the county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
County voters are likely to see nearly a quarter-billion dollars spread over five local bond referendums on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Revenues from future bond sales would support County Manager Mark Schwartz’s proposed new 10-year, $4.3 billion capital improvement plan, unveiled on Tuesday evening.
Even though the current Arlington County budget draft doesn’t include additional costs from this year’s change-ups at the ballot box, the county government is still planning to cover them.
Elections Director Gretchen Reinemeyer laid out budget pressures during an April 7 work session with Board members, voicing concern that her office’s proposed $2.18 million budget likely would not be robust enough to handle additional requirements this year.
A proposal to impose fees on applications for new historic districts in Arlington is drawing criticism from members of the county’s historic-preservation panel.
Kaydee Myers, chair of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB), argued that the small number of applications submitted annually would result in minimal revenue, but imposing a fee could dissuade future applicants.
Program cuts and staff furloughs could become a reality in Arlington if tax revenue continues to fall below expectations over the next two months.
County Manager Mark Schwartz said at a March 11 forum that there’s a possibility “we will have to shut down some of our services” and temporarily send staff home. Any cutbacks likely wouldn’t hit until the last two months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
A recent County Board work session touched on the question of who should be responsible for assessing Arlington real estate values.
Officials briefly considered the possibility of moving assessments from the government’s Department of Real Estate Assessments to Commissioner of Revenue Kim Klingler’s independent office. However, they put off any more serious discussion until later.
They have done it before, and supporters of the Cherrydale branch library say they will again fend off efforts to close the branch.
The advocacy group Citizens for Cherrydale Library is once again mobilizing to save the facility, this time from County Manager Mark Schwartz’s proposal to shutter the branch in order to save about $450,000 in the coming fiscal year.
County staff are defending a controversial cost-saving proposal to eliminate gymnastics programming and shutter Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center for up to a year.
“We need to make sure that we’re using our funding and resources to serve the most people and those in need,” County Manager Mark Schwartz told County Board members in a March 5 budget work session focused on the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Local residents will be roasting under the midsummer sun when county staff bring forward plans to improve snow response in the 2026-27 winter season.
County Manager Mark Schwartz told County Board members on Feb. 24 that he would be back in July with new plans. And he wasn’t kidding about the timing.
Supporters of Arlington youth gymnastics turned out last night (Tuesday) to press county leaders on planned cuts to local programs.
A $1.7 billion budget proposal from County Manager Mark Schwartz calls for shuttering the Arlington Aerials and Arlington Tigers, along with community gymnastics programs, at Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center. The programs, operated by the Department of Parks and Recreation, do not recoup costs through user fees, Schwartz and staff have said.
A tax rate increase, the closure of the Cherrydale Library and the elimination of a popular youth gymnastics program are key components of the new budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.
The $1.69 billion spending plan, released at a County Board meeting on Saturday, is down a fraction of a percent from the adopted fiscal year 2026 plan. The almost unprecedented year-over-year decrease reflects ongoing concerns about declining revenue from commercial office buildings, hotel stays and the federal government.
