Arlington County budget proposal calls for 1.5-cent tax hike
Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz proposed an annual budget Saturday that would raise the tax rate for homeowners by about 1.5 cents — a move he said would strengthen the county’s efforts to fund its schools and fight climate change, evictions and youth drug overdoses.
The average homeowner in the Northern Virginia locality would see a $389 jump in their property tax bill under the proposal, although Schwartz said the net increase could be less severe for some taxpayers as the county shifts to a new system for how it tallies homeowners’ storm water bills.
To balance out sagging office real estate assessments and the drying-up of pandemic-era federal aid, the plan would also eliminate about $10 million in existing county jobs or programs — whether lawmakers approve the tax hike or not.
In his presentation before the Arlington County Board, Schwartz said that a tax hike may be necessary even with the cuts because “there are a number of critical needs in our community that I think need to be addressed.”
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“This states our values as a community: that we will provide the funding not on a one-time, catch-as-catch-can basis, but on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Board members also voted unanimously at Saturday’s meeting to implement ranked-choice voting in the general election this fall for one open seat on the body — becoming the first jurisdiction in Virginia to test out that practice in a general election.
Schwartz’s proposed $1.62 billion budget represents a 4.7 percent increase in spending compared with the current fiscal year, which ends in June. Arlington Public Schools would receive $627 million, an increase of 3 percent compared with last year, but a figure that could nonetheless leave the school system forced to make its own, steep cuts.
Pressed by County Board member Susan Cunningham (D), Schwartz acknowledged that his proposal — without any tax increase — would leave county schools facing a $30 million to $35 million shortfall compared with the system’s request. Even with the tax hike, the schools will be about $20 million short of what they wanted.
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The budget, which would increase Arlington’s residential tax rate from $1.013 to $1.028 per $100 of assessed value, would mark the county’s first tax increase since the start of the pandemic. County Board members have in the last four years declined to raise the tax rate, although rising property assessments have nonetheless resulted in larger tax bills.
The boost in funds would translate to $3 million in more money for a program that provides housing vouchers to low-income families. Another $1.4 million would go toward bolstering Arlington’s eviction prevention programs, which were created during the pandemic and had been funded on an ad hoc basis.
It would also dedicate $2 million toward climate or tree canopy initiatives and add $1.2 million toward programming meant to prevent fentanyl overdoses among Arlington teens. Advocacy groups had been pushing county leaders to dedicate $2 million to such programs after two adolescent deaths rocked the county last year.
The proposed $10 million in cuts would eliminate 30 positions, including some vacant ones, and slash one bus route as well as a personal training program operated through the parks and recreation department. Two empty slots each for police officers and firefighters would also be cut.
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Schwartz suggested that the net tax increase would be lower for some homeowners because the county has changed how it collects money to fund its system of storm drains.
Arlington’s now-defunct sanitary district tax had charged homeowners 17 cents for every $100 of the assessed value of their property — or about $136 for the average homeowner last year.
Starting in May, the county will charge a fee based in part on the amount of “impervious surface” — hard surfaces such as roofs or driveways that water cannot easily go through — on their property. That translates to about $46 per unit in apartment buildings and about $155 for duplexes, townhouses or smaller single-family houses.
Historically high office vacancy rates have added budgetary pressures to Arlington’s finances. The county has traditionally relied on commercial buildings for about half its property tax revenue.
But amid a rise in hybrid and remote work arrangements, office property values decreased by 11 percent. About 9 million square feet of commercial real estate — or 21.5 percent of the county’s full stock of office buildings — was empty last fall.
The vote on ranked-choice voting was notable in that it expanded the practice to a general election — at least for now. The county had piloted its use in last year’s Democratic primary; in December, lawmakers voted to permanently extend it for all future primaries.
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Some critics had previously said switching between that voting system and the traditional “first-past-the-post” method of tabulating votes was inconsistent and gave an unfair advantage to Democrats.
County Board Chair Libby Garvey (D), who has served on the body since 2013, has said that she would not be seeking reelection this year; at least four Democrats have announced they will be seeking to succeed her.
Arlington’s five County Board members are all elected at-large and serve staggered, four-year terms. Garvey’s seat is the only one up for reelection this year. To continue the practice in future elections, the board would still have to vote to permanently institute ranked-choice voting in general elections for the entire County Board.
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