The Arlington County Board will vote Saturday on a 2012 budget that won’t raise the county’s real estate tax rate, but will still raise taxes.
The board directed County Manager Barbara Donnellan to draft a final budget that keeps the real estate tax rate steady at 95.8 cents of $100 assessed value. But with rising assessments, the average homeowners will pay an additional $84 in taxes next year.
The vote is scheduled for the County Board meeting Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
Overall, the $1 billion budget is a 5.1 percent increase from the 2011 budget.
The budget will restore some of the services that were cut over the last three years, including longer hours at the library and county parks. The County Board also increased funding for health care and housing assistance programs.
“We are fortunate in Arlington to be able to keep our low tax rate and yet also fund a number of important safety net priorities,” County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “We also found ways to restore some core services. Our economy in Arlington is better than most and we remain cautiously optimistic about our economic outlook.”
