Flat Real Estate Tax Rate, Speed Camera Funding In Falls Church Budget Proposal

FALLS CHURCH, VA — The real estate tax rate would remain the same in the proposed City of Falls Church budget, but property owners' tax bills could still go up if their assessment values increased.

City Manager Wyatt Shields presented the budget proposal at Monday's City Council meeting. The fiscal year general fund proposal is $118.36 million, which would be a 4.9 percent increase over the current year's adopted budget.

"The City is in a period of growth which presents both new revenues for the City as well as new budgetary needs," Shields wrote in the budget introduction. "This proposed budget reflects the labor of City staff to meet the opportunities afforded by that growth as well as its new challenges."

The proposal calls for the real estate tax rate to stay at $1.23 per $100 of assessed value. The average homeowner’s real estate tax bill would increase $364, or 3.4 percent, due to the impact of market appreciation on property values.

The proposed property tax rate on vehicles would increase from $4.30 per $100 in assessed value to $4.80 per $100 of assessed value. In the last adopted budget, the rate had been decreased from $5 per $100 of assessed value to $4.30 per $100 to account for rising used car values related to supply chain issues. Even with the higher rate, Shields said vehicle owners will see an average 8.8 percent decrease in property tax as vehicle values decrease, recovering from the pandemic's supply chain issues.

Shields is also proposing a 3 percent increase in sanitary sewer rates from $10.17 to $10.48 per 1,000 gallons to account for compensation increases and inflation. The average household's bill would increase by about $16 per year.

In addition, the stormwater fee is proposed to increase 4 percent from $19.28 to $20.05 per 200 square feet of impervious area. That would increase the average homeowner's bill $11 per year.

The proposed city funding for Falls Church City Public Schools is $49,208,920 based on revised revenue projections. The Falls Church City School Board had previously requested $48,690,407 in local funding based on lower December 2022 revenue projections. Including state and federal revenues, the total FCCPS operating budget is proposed to be $61,442,261. The FCCPS advertised budget includes boosts to staff pay and benefits to keep the school district competitive in the job market.

The city's budget also addresses staff pay with a proposed 3 percent cost of living adjustment, step increase for uniformed police officers and 6 percent merit increase for other employees.

Other key funding items in the budget include:

• An additional red light camera and speed camera in the 900 block of W. Broad Street school zone with funding for an additional part-time officer to review citations.
• $40,000 to add two more hours on weekends at Mary Riley Styles Public Library; another $60,000 requested by the library board for two additional weekends hours could be funded with contingency funds.
• Increasing the school resource officer unit from one to two full-time officers in schools.
• Funding a construction inspector to ensure public improvements such as stormwater and sanitary sewer by private developers are monitored and meet city requirements; funding through proposed increase to Right of Way Permit fee.
• Funding a part-time fire inspector position in addition to one full-time inspector to account for growth in commercial and apartment buildings.
• IT core infrastructure renewal and replacement in the Capital Improvement Program.
• $3.25 million over six years in the Capital Improvement Program for the fire station improvements, public building security, and police facilities and equipment investments.
• $93 million over six years in the Capital Improvement Program for transportation projects and Metro funding.
• $200,000 for neighborhood traffic calming.
• $75,000 per year for downtown beautification and improvements, funding through 1 percent of the 6 percent transient occupancy tax.
• $120,000 for the Affordable Housing Fund to expand the rental subsidy program to four households with 30 percent and 40 percent of the area median income.
• Funding for six major flood mitigation projects and green infrastructure projects in the Capital Improvement Program.
• $600,000 in federal grant funds for six electric and six hybrid vehicles and ten chargers for public works and $200,000 of local funds for vehicles and heavy equipment replacement with more fuel-efficient vehicles in the Capital Improvement Program.
• $2.4 million over the six-year Capital Improvement Program to reduce sewer backflow in basements or streams during floods.

View the full budget proposal on the city's website. Various town halls, City Council work sessions and public hearings will be held this spring. The public hearing for the budget, tax rates and Capital Improvement Program is scheduled for April 24. Budget adoption is set for May 8.