From Bill Corbett:
What kind of community do you want to live in, why, and what does the community in the City of Falls Church need to do about it? Is the tax base going to change in ways that will make those decisions for the community, unless the community acts first?
That, in a nutshell, is the kind of conversation Deliberation Falls Church can promote. I live nearby in McLean, but let me repeat what I hear the City’s residents saying on this score.
The City’s conundrum is how to match the local services and community resources that Arlington and Fairfax can offer, although the City has little chance of attracting a comparable proportion of its tax revenues from commercial businesses. As a result, the City’s residential tax rate is already 20% above that of Fairfax City. The higher that differential with neighboring jurisdictions goes, the higher the risk to the City that less people will want to live in it and pay its taxes, and that a downward spiral in residential values and tax revenues could ensue.
People say the City needs to pursue the same goal that led to its
founding fifty years ago: maintain itself as a better place to live than the
alternatives nearby. The responsiveness
of the City’s smaller-scale government and civic institutions are an asset in
that regard, as demonstrated by its ability to construct a $29 million middle
school in two years and under budget. The community center is not too shabby either.
That’s what I hear. I don’t know enough to say whether the City Center plan, a different business/government partnership or some other idea is the way to give greater balance to the City’s tax base, or if indeed the tax base is the dark cloud on horizon many people believe it is. I do know that for anything to be done it will need public support, and that community involvement is the City of Falls Church’s specialty. It’s a strength the City’s neighbors are hard-pressed to match.
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