It Just Got Easier for You to Tell the County Board How to Spend $1.5

Published on February 24, 2016

Arlington's County Board is looking for your thoughts on the Proposed Fiscal Year 2017 Budget. You can weigh in at two public hearings scheduled in March.

There's a lot at stake. Arlington's Proposed Budget is $1.54 billion. About 40 percent of that goes to support public schools. About $727.5 million pays for County operations.

The Board has advertised the same tax rate for Calendar Year 2016 as it adopted for CY 2015.  Under law, it cannot adopt a tax rate higher than what it has advertised — but it could go lower.

Unlike past years, this year you can comment on both the proposed property tax rates and fees, and the proposed expenditures at either of the two public hearings on the Budget. The Board used to hold one hearing on tax rates, and another on expenditures. If you wanted to speak on both, you had to show up for both meetings. Now you can tell the Board everything Budget-related on your mind at one hearing.

The first public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 in the County Board Room. The second will be held on Thursday, March 31, also in the Board Room. Both will begin at 7 p.m. with testimony on tax rates and fees. After a break, they will take up expenditures. To speak, sign-up in advance beginning at 8 am 5 business days before the Tuesday hearing date. Advanced sign-up will close at 5 pm the day before each hearing date. To register, visit the County website, call 703-228-3130 or visit the County board Office at 2100 Clarendon Blvd.

You can also sign-up to speak the evening of the hearings. And if you can't make it to either public hearing, no worries. You can send us your comments through this easy-to-use online form.

To learn more about the new procedures for the Budget Public Hearings, visit the County website. Learn more about the FY 2017 Proposed Budget.