City Hall Renovation over budget

The City was not able to negotiate a not-to-exceed-priced contract to renovate City Hall for the $13 million they had budgeted.  The new plan is to cut back on the scope of the project and try again.

Enrollment Projections Error
We had a total of 8 new students in the school system this year.  Our enrollment consultants who were also paid to provide us enrollment predictions to justify the size of the new high school, say that this year’s surprisingly low number of new students is an anomaly.  In October 2016, they had predicted that there would be 75 new students.

Tax Rate Comparison – Double Standard
The City presented a table that compared the real estate tax rate in Falls Church to other nearby jurisdictions.  For those other jurisdictions, “extra” charges were included.  For instance, the Arlington tax rate is 0.991 but there is an extra charge of .058 to bring the total to 1.049.  For Falls Church, though, the Storm Water fee which shows up on our real estate bills and costs us extra is not included as an extra.  Our tax rate is $ 1.33 but that does not include the Storm Water Fee which varies based on how much impervious land you have.

Operating Cost Concerns
For months, concerned citizens have been warning that the Superintendent’s stated need for additional operating funds (from $ 50.6 million in 2018 to $ 74.9 million in 2028) outpaces what the City Manager said we can expect in total city revenue increases.  Mr. Ira Kaylin was the first to speak out on this, and his expertise was incorporated into this article.  Mr Kaylin was relentless in his request for the City to provide citizens with a comprehensive financial plan that included the expected operating costs in the years to come, not just the debt service.  He argued that it was impossible for citizens to make an informed decision about the $ 120 million debt vote without this data.  No report was generated.

A month before the GMHS referendum vote, Council Member Hardi addressed operating costs concerns in her blog. She states under Operating cost risk – “How would we handle operating costs for a new GMHS? With both capital and operating budgets increasing, taxes are going to skyrocket!  A common misconception is that operating costs would radically increase if a new high school is built. One could argue that maintenance and utility costs in a more energy efficient building would be lower than the current building. 80+% of the school budget is personnel costs, and those costs largely grow when school enrollment grows (ie, more students = more teachers if we maintain class sizes) – those personnel costs don’t necessarily grow when the building grows.”

In her recent post referendum vote blog, Ms. Hardy says this:

“It is projected we’ll need to increase taxes by 6 cents next year (4 cents for GMHS, 2 cents for the remainder of the CIP), assuming operating budgets don’t require additional increases.”

The City will soon vote on this related proclamation:

“It is the Council’s intention to maintain appropriate discipline on operating budgets for General Governments and Schools with a vision toward reserving financial capacity for the major capital projects in the City’s immediate future, including the George Mason High School and …”

With just 8 new students this year, if there was ever a good time to hold the line of school operating cost increases, it would be now. We will see.