County Board met with the County Manager and the Department of Environmental Services (DES) on March 20th to discuss DES's FY 15 budget. Was street paving a primary item on the agenda? Was water main replacement a primary item on the agenda? Was replacing Arlington's old and inefficient street lights (mostly owned by Dominion) a primary item on the agenda? No. ART bus route expansion was on the agenda - paid for by fare increases. (Where is the money from the real estate tax surtax going?) However, County Board Chair Jay Fisette argued for making ART and many other services self-supporting, an idea opposed by the rest of the County Board and County Manager.
No argument about Chairman Fisette's pet programs, however. Solid waste fee will be increased to cover both yard waste and kitchen waste disposal. Homeowners will have 3 bins for waste. Chairman Fisette's Dominion-friendly community energy program (no renewable energy allowed) is getting underway. Ballston Parking Garage will consume $7 million in FY 15 - I thought the County was on a car free diet. Biggest increase in the DES budget is an increase of $8.6 million and 11 full time employees to begin implementing Virginia's Stormwater Management Program, an unfunded mandate that will become increasingly expensive.
The proposed Pike streetcar system wasn't mentioned, most likely because any discussion would have provoked a sharp rebuke to the rest of the County Board and County Staff by Libby Garvey.
See you at the FY 15 Budget public hearing tomorrow night.
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11 comments:
No one wanted to hear about renewable energy.
How deep in the red is Jay's pet live theater and what is the Signature's wealthy board of directors doing to make the Signature self-sustaining?
Isn't new transit infrastructure supposed to be funded by the commercial real estate surtax?
Commercial real estate surtax for new transit infrastructure is going into the Pike streetcar slush fund...which is currently about $88 million.
Signature keeps threatening to leave Arlington if Arlington doesn't keep bailing the Signature out.
Community energy? County will spend more than a million to replace the gas-fired boilers at Central Library with new gas-fired boilers, rather than put solar water heating panels on the roof together with the photovoltaic panels that have already been installed.
Add $3 million for any and all activities promoting a 'car free diet' to the $7 million County Government spends on the Ballston Parking Garage.
DES doesn't want to hear about plug-in hybrids recharged by solar panels either.
Here's who's up next for the FY 15 Budget:
3/25 - Budget public meeting
3/27 - Tax rate public meeting
4/1 - Economic Development, General Fund, BIDs, Compensation, Technology Services
4/3 - DHS, CPHD, Affordable Housing, Regionals
4/8 - School System (meeting to be held at school system offices)
Where's the Post when it comes to the County's inverted budget priorities? Concerned about the Graham Family's redevelopment ventures.
How much will Virginia's stormwater management mandate cost the County? $200 million? $300 million? $400 million?
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