Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Through Nov. 22, 2017, we’re looking for feedback as we plan for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget. Your suggestions and comments will help the County Manager shape his budget proposal, which goes to the Board in February 2018. (Questions we'd like to hear from you about:
  • To what extent do you believe Arlington residents and businesses would be willing to pay more for services or programs through taxes or fees? Can you share specific types of services or programs where you think there would be broad support for an increased fee/tax to support the costs?
  • What, if any, services or programs, could be reduced, if necessary? What types of impacts could these types of reductions potentially have for different stakeholders in the County?
  • Do you have any additional suggestions for the County Manager as he develops the FY19 budget proposal?
Take a moment to learn more about the budget by viewing a visual two-page Budget Infographic. Then use the "Submit Idea" button on this page to share your thoughts on these specific questions. And you can also comments on what others have submitted. Learn more about the County's budget by visiting budget.arlingtonva.us.
Submitted by (@timwise)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Limits on budget

Over any 10 year period, county spending should be limited to population growth and inflation. To ensure this transparency, the County Manager should include in his Proposed Budget, how the budget has grown -- given population growth and inflation -- over the prior 10 years. Taxpayers could then expect any tax increases (or decreases) to be scaled back (or increased) accordingly.

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Submitted by (@gregory.prather)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Long Branch Creek

The Long Branch Creek neighborhood (south of 395 with Glebe road running thru) doesn’t have a lot of amenities (restaurants, retail, etc) for use by the neighborhood residents and others. The only significant location for daily use by residents is the Giant. Lots of resources have been focused on other parts of Arlington- the orange line corridor, improving Columbia Pike, and Crystal City and north Potomac Yards. How... more »

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Submitted by (@gregory.prather)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Indoor tennis courts during winter

Arlington has a lot of great public tennis courts 3 seasons of the year. There are however no public indoor courts during winter. Other nearby municipalities such as DC have courts that are enclosed over winter, those however are inconvenient for Arlington residents to get to. These need not be covered year round, could just enclose over winter like done at Hanes Point. Somewhere like the Wakefield HS courts would be... more »

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1 like
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Submitted by (@cunningham99999)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Clean Drinking Water in Arlington

Arlington tap water usually tastes either like dirt or chlorine.

We have needed to purchase bottled water ever since the water pipe cleansing this past spring (2017).

It is inconvenient to routinely transport (heavy to carry) water to the home. It is also an additional recurring household expense that I would rather not pay. Brita filters do not help that much; other brands of water purifiers also have limitations,... more »

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1 like
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Submitted by (@braswell67)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Information

After reading through the comments to date, I was fascinated by the lack of basic information that most commenters possess. I was also concerned about how few residents commented. What is the Arlington population about 125,000 with about 200 comments? We are missing a large swath of Arlington residents.

To speak to "basic information". It seems that most commenters do not have a strong grasp about the details of Arlington... more »

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1 like
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Submitted by (@suzanne)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Laundry list of budget-related suggesstions

Since we don’t yet have a budget, there is no way to provide anything more than general suggestions/prescriptions. See below:

—Begin preparing comprehensive and cumulative fiscal impact analysis for development to analyze costs. A more thorough analysis would give board members the data needed to make better informed decisions, and it would enable staff to more accurately forecast long-term obligations and costs.

—Add... more »

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2 likes
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Submitted by (@aa1agent66)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Gunston Middle School Community Field

Arlington County prides itself with the services and facilities it provides its residents which nothing short of excellent.
I would like a small investment to be made in the community field at Gunston Community field. It’s current condition are those of a 3rd World Country. It is an eye sore to Arlington County. I do not understand why for the last 6 years this field has not being maintained. Interim solution: reseed... more »

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0 likes
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Submitted by (@shirlgirl)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Focus on the Big $$$ Issues, not the micro stuff

Folks, if we are going to "engage," let's focus on the larger fiscal issues, not the trivial stuff. As a matter of policy.

There have been some well-meaning suggestions about collecting more from County residents for this and that. From the fiscal point of view, there is little payoff to the County budget to focus on increasing trivial fees. It costs money to collect and track these small amounts, and the total raised... more »

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5 likes
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Submitted by (@karenc)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Columbia Pike Development

https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2017/08/Development-Summary-2017-8-7-17-FINAL.pdf

I wanted to share this link with those interested in comparing the development in other corridors vs. Columbia Pike. As you will note, the differences are staggering. We keep building residential apartments (which is good) but there are hardly any new city amenities. How can you expect... more »

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3 likes
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Submitted by (@samanthamplatt)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Affordable Housing

I would like it if Arlington stopped forcing all of the affordable housing on Buckingham and South Arlington via "affordable housing funds". I live off of Pershing Drive and am concerned that the country is allowing affordable housing money to go towards funding a Committed Affordable Housing Neighborhood which continues to perpetuate the NIMBLY (Not in My Back Yard) atmosphere of community responsibility for affordable... more »

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1 like
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Submitted by (@abbaman7)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

An Occupancy Tax To Cover Budget Shortfall

Increasing property taxes and/or cutting County services are the usual suspects trotted out to deal with budgetary shortfalls. I have been a property owner in the County for over 30 years and have always found it irksome that those who rent pretty much enjoy the same County public services that I do but without paying for them [e.g., the parks, roads, libraries and schools]. Arlington County already imposes a Transient... more »

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-6 likes
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Submitted by (@sugarmag)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Tax base versus fees

Perhaps a distinction needs to be drawn between essential public goods and services that benefit the entire community and those that are used by a subset of the community. Essential items include things like schools (even though one can argue that they are not used by all members of the community), roads and sidewalks, police and fire departments, and a range of other items. Goods and services that benefit a subset include... more »

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2 likes
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Submitted by (@bestleslieb)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Close-out Funds

Every year there are millions of dollars in surplus funds left over at the end of the fiscal year. I attended a budget round table to ask why these funds are never used to close the inevitable budget gap for the next fiscal year, instead of raising real estate taxes to cover the budget gap. Last year there were $17 million in surplus funds that were spent, and our taxes were increased to cover an $11 million budget... more »

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12 likes
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Submitted by (@suzanne)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Fiscal Problems Have Roots in Poor Planning and Decision-Making

Our slide into fiscal problems has been in the works for some time. Back on Oct. 25, 2013, then-County Manager Barbara Donnellan told the County and School Boards that she had "no more rabbits" that she could pull out of her budgetary hat. As a community, we must transition from being world-class spenders to finding more efficient and effective ways to stretch our communal dollars. In that regard, I have recommended a... more »

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9 likes
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Submitted by (@spaganya)

Feedback for FY 2019 Budget

Improvement in the Crystal City/Potomac Yard areas

I would love to see the County focus efforts on getting the occupancy rate up in Crystal City and Potomac Yard area near the airport. Vacancy and lack of a variety between 23rd St and Glebe Road off Jefferson Davis Hwy/Crystal Drive/Potomac Ave is disappointing. All of our tax dollars are going to Alexandria in Del Ray and Old town areas which is unfortunate.

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-1 likes
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