Despite Good News, Tax Increases Might Be Needed to Cover Services

Arlington County leaders said yesterday that taxes will have to rise this year if basic services are to be maintained, despite good news this week that the county has weathered the national real estate crisis better than its neighbors.

Board Chairwoman Barbara A. Favola, a 12-year veteran of the board, said it would be very hard for the county to stick to its previously stated goal of keeping the average tax bill unchanged.

"My guess is that it's not going to be possible," Favola (D) said. "We're probably going to have to ask our residents to pay a little more."

The county reported this week that residential property values declined just 2 percent and commercial values rose a point, insulating Arlington taxpayers from the devastating shortfalls facing neighbors in Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties. In Prince William, property values declined 30 percent in the past year, and the resulting decline in projected tax receipts has left leaders facing a $190 million budget shortfall. To address a projected shortfall of more than $600 million, Fairfax is considering deep cuts to libraries, parks, capital improvements and schools.

In Arlington, public support for top-notch schools, parks, libraries and roads may be stronger than in Fairfax, and leaders define "core services" more broadly than in many other communities. Favola, who was selected yesterday to a third one-year stint as board chairwoman, and her colleagues emphasized in their annual New Year's Day remarks that pains must be taken not to allow priorities to suffer, among them environmental conservation, affordable housing, homelessness programs and other human services.

"Although the concept of fiscal sustainability will dominate our conversations and public policy debates at all levels of government," Favola said, "we need to remember that the end result must be aimed at sustaining Arlington in a way that keeps it special."

Even as they warned of as many as three more years of tough economic times, board members hailed the county's commitment to green building standards. They pledged to push ahead with a $100 million expansion of Yorktown High School and promised to expand curbside recycling to reduce trash volume by as much as one-third.

Board members heralded the final steps of a major redevelopment plan for Columbia Pike expected to include trolley service and high-density affordable housing, and they proposed tackling binge drinking among teenagers, apparently a growing problem in the county.

"How exciting for all of us that the recycling bin can be larger than the trash bin!" board member Jay Fisette (D) said. "Also, we won't have to stuff all those newspapers into the paper bag and then have the handle rip on the way out to the curb."

The county spends about $1 billion on county programs and schools, and its real estate tax rate is 84.8 cents for each $100 of assessed value.

Last year, the average homeowner's real estate tax bill climbed $104, but about 30 percent of homeowners had lower tax bills because of falling real estate values.