Politics & Government
Falls Church Approves $112.8M Budget, Drop In Real Estate Tax Rate
Falls Church City Council approved a 2023 fiscal budget of $112.8 million Monday that included a 9-cent drop in the real estate tax rate.
FALLS CHURCH, VA — The Falls Church City Council approved a 2023 fiscal budget of $112.8 million for fiscal year 2023 at a meeting Monday night that included a 9-cent decrease in the real estate property tax rate from $1.32 per $100 of assessed value to $1.23 per $100 of assessed value.
The new Falls Church budget represents a 7.7-percent increase over the fiscal year 2022 budget.
The city council also approved a 70-cent reduction in the city's vehicle tax, from $5.00 per $100 of the assessed value to $4.30 per $100 of the assessed value.
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"I think this is a fair budget," Mayor David Tarter said at Monday's meeting. "And it also validates our economic development policies and the growth we've had these past years. I think this is a good budget."
The budget includes investments in making the City of Falls Church more walkable as well as traffic-calming measures, flood mitigation, environmental sustainability and city employee salary increases, City Manager Wyatt Shields said at Monday's meeting.
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The budget includes a transfer request of $57.87 million to Falls Church City Public Schools for fiscal year 2023.
Shields had proposed an 8.5-cent decrease in the real estate property tax rate. That proposal was revised to a 9-cent decrease in the tax rate by the city council in its final budget adoption.
The approved budget will still mean much higher tax bills for Falls Church homeowners in 2022. Assessed residential property values in 2022 increased by 13.7 percent over the previous year.
The relief approved for homeowners in Falls Church contrasts with neighboring Arlington County, where the county board last week chose not to lower the real estate tax rate in a county where home real estate assessments are increasing at an extremely high rate similar to Falls Church.
Property taxes will bring in $69.06 million in revenue to the city for the new fiscal year, an increase of $2.76 million from the fiscal year 2022 budget.
RELATED: Falls Church Proposes 6% Larger Budget, Reduction In Tax Rate
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