When government funding for social services declined sharply after the 2008 economic meltdown, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board made a critical mistake. Instead of immediately consolidating its highest priority programs for the homeless, mentally ill and disabled, board members put their heads in the sand and went on spending as if nothing had happened.

Given their subsequent “overly optimistic revenue projections,” they dug their budget hole even deeper without informing Fairfax County supervisors, who provide 70 percent of CSB’s funding, that they were running in the red.