Arlington County has proposed a small drop in its in fiscal 2010 budget but is not contemplating the dramatic cuts other jurisdictions are weighing.
County Manager Ron Carlee proposed a $929.5 million budget for 2010 at the county board meeting Saturday. The proposed amount is 1.3 percent less than Arlington’s revised fiscal 2009 budget. The 2009 budget had to be scaled back in light of the economic downturn.
Carlee said Friday the budget constituted “serious belt-tightening,” but not a “restructuring of government,” adding that the goal was to “take care not to undermine what’s gotten us to where we are.”
He recommended $23.3 million in cuts, including the elimination of 100 positions, 40 of which are filled. He said the county is trying to move displaced workers into vacant positions. A hiring freeze has been in place in the county since fall 2008.
It was the “worst real estate market in known times this past year, and Arlington weathered it better than anyone else,” he said.
Indeed, while many local governments saw property values decline dramatically — the average residential real estate assessment in Prince William dropped 32 percent, for example — Arlington’s overall assessments actually increased 0.4 percent for calendar year 2009.
The proposed budget would raise the tax rate by 2.7 cents, from 83.8 cents to 86.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. This would result in a 0.3 percent rise in the average tax bill, which translates to $17 per year or about $1.42 per month.
Carlee said he didn’t think the county had seen the bottom of the real estate downturn yet, and was predicting flat assessments for calendar year 2010.
“I do know that anything can happen,” he said. “We need to be prepared.”
The county is keeping a close eye on Metrorail’s budget as well.
“Deliberations at Metro are of huge concern,” he said. “This region is successful … because of metro.”
Work sessions on the budget are scheduled for the coming weeks. There will be public budget hearings at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 24 and Wednesday, March 25, and a public tax rate hearing Thursday, March 26.
