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From YouTube: County Board Wrap Up, April 2015
Description
Board Chair Mary Hynes sits down with Mary Curtius of the Arlington Communications office and discusses important decisions from the April 2015 county board meeting. This meeting was dominated by the annual budget process, and there's lots of budget talk in this 30 min. discussion.
A
C
A
Look
really
forward
to
this
chat
on
what
happened
at
the
county
board
meeting
each
month
following
the
county
board
meetings,
we're
taking
a
half
hour
to
talk
about
some
of
the
actions
the
board
took
and
what
those
actions
mean
for
you,
your
family
and
your
community.
So
you
can
stay
informed
about
what
your
government
is
doing
and
why
and
mary
you're
here
to
help
us
sort
the
whole
thing
out.
A
C
A
C
C
Sometimes
we
give
direction
about
how
we
want
to
approach
what's
going
on
with
schools.
Sometimes
we
know
we
have
new
facilities,
opening
like
in
2016,
we'll
finally
get
our
homeless
services
center
back
up
and
running.
That
has
budget
implications.
So
that's
that's.
The
first
step
is
sometime
in
the
fall
usually
october
november.
We
give
that
kind
of
direction.
C
Of
information,
so
staff
does
a
really
great
job
of
sort
of
tracking.
What's
going
on
financially,
our
biggest
source
of
revenue
is
real
estate,
both
commercial
and
residential,
and
so
they
track
trends.
They
look
at
sales
and
they'll
come
to
us
in
the
fall
with
a
guess,
an
early
estimate.
If
you
will
of
how
much
growth
we
might
expect
both
in
commercial
residential
and
they
do
behave
differently.
C
We
asked
her
to
bring
us
a
budget
with
no
tax
increase.
That
was
perhaps
the
most
important
message
that
we
sent.
We
asked
her
to
do
her
to
meet
our
revenue,
sharing
principles
with
the
school
system,
which
basically
sets
out
an
initial
split
of
the
money,
and
then
the
principles
say
and
we're
going
to
keep
talking
throughout
the
budget
process
until
we
get
to
the
end
to
sort
of
figure
out.
C
If
we
need
to
adjust
how
that
revenue
is
split
in
this
year,
we
did
actually
we
added
about
six
tenths
of
a
percent
about
19
million
dollars.
More
is
going
to
go
to
schools
for
fiscal
year
16
than
they
have
this
year
in
fiscal
year.
15.
A
C
C
None
of
them
has
been
easy
since
I
came
here
because
the
economic
downturn
happened,
the
fall
of
2008,
and
so
we
have
been
dealing
in
a
in
a
circumstance
where
initially,
our
economy
did
okay,
because
the
federal
government
was
really
playing,
but
in
more
recent
years
it's
been
really
difficult,
so
we've
been
scaling
back
and
we've
been
trimming
and
we've
been
trying
to
adjust
and
we've
been
doing
this
in
an
environment
where
school
enrollment
is
growing.
So
I
don't
think
any
of
them
actually
are
easy.
A
Okay
and
then
I
guess
that
kind
of
answers,
my
next
question:
how
do
you
decide
each
year
what
you're
going
to
spend?
Do
you
look
at
your
revenues
and
say
this
is
how
much
we
have
to
spend
or
do
you
look
at
your
services
and
programs
and
say
this
is
what
we
have
to
cover.
We
have
to
figure
out
a
way
to
cover
it.
C
It's
a
blend:
okay,
it's
really
a
blend
of
those
two
things
and
because
we
hold
in
our
hands
the
tool
that
lets
you
align
revenue
with
what
you
need
to
do,
which
is
the
tax
rate
you
you
come
in.
I
think,
with
with
some
thought
of
how
much
you
might
be
willing
to
go,
and
actually
you
know
we
after
the
manager's
budget
is
presented,
we
actually
advertise.
What
can
be
the
top
amount
of
revenue
we
could
raise
when
we
advertise
the
tax
rate
can't
go
higher
than
that
can
always
go
lower.
C
C
Absolutely
deal
with
that
growth.
Absolutely
when
we
started
in
the
fall,
the
schools
said
they
needed
another
26
million
dollars.
By
the
time
we
got
to
the
last
week.
They
were
down
at
6.2
and
we
were
able
to
find
the
6.2.
C
A
C
Sure
so
what
she
does
is
she
talks
to
all
the
departments.
You
know
she
kind
of
takes
that
guidance
out
and
says
up.
They
said
no
tax
increase,
so
we're
gonna
kind
of
here's,
our
box.
We
have
to
live
in
she
and
we
asked
her
this
year
as
well
to
bring
us
a
one
percent
re
reduction
so
about
four
million
dollars
of
reduction
not
to
take
them
but
to
bring
them
to
us.
So
we
would
have
if
we
needed
to,
because
we
knew
about
schools,
we
had
some
places.
C
We
could
look
at
that
had
been
vetted
by
the
organization.
She
also
generally
has
been
collaborating
with
the
superintendent
to
hold
a
community
meeting.
She
met
with
all
of
our
commissions
to
hear
what
they
had
to
say
and
then
she
and
sort
of
the
executive
leadership
team
here
at
the
county
go
into
mode
of
putting
the
budget
together.
C
That
happens
all
the
way
through
january.
Typically,
the
budget
comes
to
the
board,
then,
as
the
manager's
proposed
budget
into
in
february
of
each
year,
and
then
we
have
to
advertise
that
tax
rate
and
then
we
move
into
hefty
work
sessions
to
understand
the
proposals
so
you're
going
through
the
whole
budget,
absolutely
every
department
every
single
year.
A
B
Anywhere
you
drive
in
arlington
you'll,
encounter
county
work,
crews
who
are
out
performing
daily
tasks
like
cleaning
streets,
collecting,
leaves
or
plowing
snow
driving
safely
around.
These
vehicles
is
extremely
important
to
avoid
accidents
or
injuries.
Trucks
do
not
have
the
same
stop-and-go
capability
as
cars.
Therefore,
here
are
some
safety
tips.
Our
department
of
environmental
services
would
like
you
to
remember:
please
slow
down
around
work
zones
and
provide
county
vehicles
and
personnel
additional
space
needed
to
safely
operate.
B
A
C
C
It's
about
1.2,
almost
1.2
billion
dollars,
of
which
451
and
change
goes
over
to
the
school
system,
to
support
our
incredible
education.
That's
almost
half
the
budget,
yeah
yeah
a
little
bit
between
a
half
and
a
third.
Absolutely
when
you
look
at
the
whole
thing
so
yeah
we
we
value
education
and
that's
one
of
the
things
I
would
say
about
this
budget
overall.
Is
it's
based
on
values?
C
You
know
you
put
money
into
the
things
that
you
believe
in
that's
really
the
truth
of
budget.
So
so
we
value
schools
tremendously.
C
We
also
put
money
into
public
safety,
more
sheriff's
deputies,
money
to
support
the
circuit
court,
salary
supplement
for
our
public
defenders,
mental
health
services
at
the
jail,
more
police
details
in
clarendon
and
in
roslyn
and
in
roslyn
during
the
day
when
we've
really
been
having
trouble
with
gridlock
down
there,
so
we
got
more
police
presence
there.
Those
are
really
important
ones,
but
we
also
heard
about
bikes
from
the
community,
and
we
heard
about
our
fresh
air
program,
the
importance
of
those
things
as
well,
so
really
a
live
of
our
values.
C
It
certainly
did,
as
I
said
earlier,
the
manager
brought
us
a
budget
that
was
predicated
on
no
tax
increase,
but
she
also
brought
us
four
million
dollars
worth
of
potential
cuts
for
us
to
consider
as
we're
trying
to
figure
out
how
to
cover
the
schools
and
do
a
variety
of
other
things,
and
some
of
the
things
on
that
cut
list.
C
That
potential
cut
list
engendered
a
huge
amount
of
community
support
and
the
board
decided
not
to
cut
them
primary
among
that
programming
and
construction,
money
for
bicycle
and
pedestrian
programs
and
the
sustainability
work
that
we
do
around
around
houses
and
planning
for
the
future.
That's
kind
of
encapsulated
in
our
fresh
air
program.
We
also
heard
from
a
lot
of
people
who
thought
the
animal
welfare
league
needed
another
animal
control
officer,
and
we
funded
that
as
well
and.
C
Well,
you
know
we
have
so
many
people
in
arlington
and
they
certainly
do
love
their
pets
and
and
we've
got
a
great
partner
in
the
animal
welfare
league
and
that's
actually
who
hires
the
animal
control
officers
and
they
had
been
looking
at
their
statistics
and
the
number
of
calls
they
were
getting
and
was
really
on
the
rise.
And
so
we
really
needed
another
one.
And
so
we
funded
it.
But
you
did
take
some.
C
Did
we
did
the
most
obvious
cut,
obviously,
is
the
closing
of
artosphere,
the
winding
down
of
artosphere
and
the
arts
programming
will
be
over
at
on
june
30th
of
this
year.
We've
asked
the
manager
to
come
back
to
us
in
june,
though,
because
there's
there's
a
lease
involved
in
this
particular
space,
and
one
of
the
conditions
is
that
we
have
to
pay
the
sort
of
operating
costs,
the
utilities
and
the
heat
and
stuff
for
another
year.
So
we
have
to
put
some
more
money
in
and
we're
really
trying
to.
A
C
Not
as
the
artist
fear
over
this
period
of
time
that
we
have
to
pay
for
it
and
there's
some
tech
companies
and
some
other
people,
who've
begun
to
kind
of
put
some
ideas
together.
We're
hopeful
that
we
can
get
some
value
for
the
community
over
fiscal
year,
16
either
in
the
tech
field
or
in
the
marketing
of
space
and
stuff.
But
those
are
that
was
the
biggest
and
I
think
the
hardest
for
the
board
members
to
take.
C
We
have
a
number
of
other
staff
who
work
for
cultural
affairs
and
three
of
the
people
from
artistsphere
are
going
to
go
back
and
rejoin
that
staff.
We
have
a
fabulous
new
director
of
cultural
affairs.
Who's
come
from
a
place
where
they
do
lots
of
art
in
out
in
the
community,
and
so
she's
got
some
really
neat
ideas
and
the
arts
commission,
working
with
the
department,
will
be
launching
a
strategic
planning
process
to
really
figure
out.
Where
are
we
going
next
with
the
arts?
C
Just
in
a
different
way,
absolutely
and-
and
you
know,
there's
a
lot
of
great
research
that
says
for
every
public
dollar
you
put
in
you
generate
seven
dollars
of
other
economic
activity
when,
when
arts
venues
are
working
properly,
artisphere
wasn't
doing
that.
For
us,
it
wasn't
likely
to
do
that
for
us
in
any
given
time,
but
we
know
that
there
are
thousands
of
jobs
associated
with
the
arts
here
in
arlington
and
that
that
in
certain
locations
it
works
really
well
we're
just
going
to
have
to
keep
working
at
it.
A
So
let
me
get
to
what
I
think
is
of
great
interest
to
a
lot
of
our
viewers,
the
tax
rate
uh-huh,
so
the
board
decided
the
tax
rate
would
not
go
up.
That's
right.
Does
that
mean
taxes
won't
be
going
up.
C
Unfortunately,
it
doesn't
mean
that,
because
our
assessments
went
up
if
you're
like
me,
you
know
that
that
notice
came
soon
after
the
first
of
the
year
and
your
probably
your
land
value
went
up.
Your
house
may
not
have
so
whatever
that
that
increase
in
your
assessment,
the
tax
rate
will
be
applied
to
that
as
well.
C
So
on
average,
we
think
that
if
you
live
in
a
in
the
average
arlington
house,
which
is
about
600
valued
at
about
600
000,
your
property
taxes
will
probably
go
up
about
280
next
year
or
about
23
a
month.
C
We
have
the
lowest
tax
rate
in
the
region.
Sometimes
fairfax
city
is
a
tiny
bit
under
us,
but
I
think
we're
going
to
be
lowest
in
this
year.
Most
most
jurisdictions
are
not
raising
their
rates.
At
this
moment
the
difference
is,
and
so,
if
you
just
took
a
600
000
house
and
you
put
plugged
in
all
these
various
jurisdictions,
what
their
tax
rate
would
cause.
C
Arlington,
if
you
instead
put
in
the
average
house,
cost
for
each
of
these
jurisdictions,
so
the
further
out
you
get
the
lower
your
average
cost
gets.
They
have
a
higher
rate,
but
on
a
lower
value,
and
so
it
it
appears
that
arlington,
if
you,
because
our
house
value,
is
among
the
highest
that
our
burden
is
the
highest.
But
I
would
also
say
the
kinds
of
services
that
we
get
the
kinds
of
school
system
that
we
have:
the
access
to
transit,
our
incredible
libraries,
our
incredible
parks.
C
In
some
ways
you
get
what
you
pay
for
right
and
I
think
it's
great
value
for
arlingtonians.
And
you
know
those
are
the
decisions
we
have
to
make.
A
C
Know
I
do
feel
good
about
this.
I
feel
better
about
this
particular
budget
than
any
of
the
other
seven
I've
worked
on
here
at
the
county.
I
think
it
is
a
really
strong
balance
of
our
values.
I
think
we
were
able
to
do
some
key
things
like,
for
instance,
add
bus
service
on
the
weekends,
on
columbia,
pike
to
help
people
who
are
bus
dependent
down
there,
but
we've
also
kept
our
commitment
to
affordable
housing.
We've
made
these
strategic
investments
in
public
safety
and
economic
development.
We
met
the
schools
request.
A
If
you
have
more
questions
about
how
the
county's
budget
is
adopted,
email
them
here
at
atv,
arlingtonva.us
or
tweet
them
with
the
hashtag
countyboardwrap
and
we'll
try
to
answer
them
next
time,
we'll
take
a
short
break
now
and
when
we
come
back,
we'll
talk
about
other
actions.
The
board
took
at
the
april
meeting.
B
B
A
Welcome
back
the
budget
boat
that
the
board
took
at
its
april
meeting
was
clearly
an
important
one,
but
it
was
not
the
only
action
the
board
took
we'll.
Take
a
look
now
at
some
of
those
other
actions.
Mary.
I
wanted
to
talk
to
you
about
the
wilson
school
and
the
action
that
the
board
took
on
the
request
to
designate
it
historic
right.
What
happened.
C
Well,
you
know
actually,
let's
to
be
technically
correct.
It
was
to
put
a
local
historic
district
on
it.
So
I
want
to
separate
it
a
little
bit
because
some
of
the
things
that
happen
at
the
building
are
important
and
its
location
is
important,
but
when
you
put
a
local
historic
district
around
something
you're,
basically
it's
almost
like
saying
it's
kind
of
in
glass.
C
C
So
some
members
of
the
community
about
12
residents
down
in
the
roslind
area
brought
this
to
the
historic
affairs
and
landmark
review
board,
which
is
our
body
that
looks
at
these
things.
It
had
been
studied
once
before,
and
in
that
first
go-round
and
everybody
knows
the
wilson
school
actually
belongs
to
the
school
board.
They
hold
that
property
for
the
purposes
of
delivering
public
education,
so
it
had
been
looked
at
once
before,
and
the
school
board
had
said
we
choose
not
to
sort
of
put
it
in
this
bubble.
B
C
C
So
what
the
board
did
was
based
on
the
school
board's
request
that
we
not
designated
historic
based
on
our
review
of
what
was
going
on
and
with
all
of
these
parcels,
we
declined
to
put
a
historic
district
on
it.
We
did,
though,
ask
the
manager
to
work
with
the
school
system
and
the
historic
preservation
staff,
as
well
as
h.e.l.r.b,
to
explore
ways
to
tell
the
story
of
wilson
school.
However,
the
parcel
ends
up
redeveloping.
A
C
Well,
let's
start
with
the
first
one:
okay,
okay,
people
may
recall,
and
probably
we've
all
walked
by
a
field
where
the
whole
middle
is
just
dirt.
B
C
C
C
A
C
Sure
so
staff
brought
us
a
proposal
to
look
at
both
increasing
the
rate
for
parking
meters
and
potentially
extending
the
hours
most
of
them
in
the
urban
areas.
The
rate
is
a
dollar
and
a
quarter
an
hour.
This
would
go
up
to
a
dollar
fifty.
If
we
move
forward
in
the
places
where
it's
a
dollar
go
to
a
dollar
and
a
quarter,
we
have
some
places
at
50
and
75
cents,
those
wouldn't
change.
C
We
currently
run
until
six
o'clock
at
night.
This
is
a
proposal
to
run
as
late
as
eight.
When
we
looked
at
what
others
were
doing
in
the
region,
we
had
the
lowest
rates
and
we
had
the
shortest
hours
and
both
of
those
things
lead
to
to
the
street
not
turning
over,
and
so
people
drive
around
looking
for
parking
too
much.
C
So
this
is
we're
trying
to
right-size
this
and
came
to
us
late,
and
we
thought
we'll
take
a
little
more
time
so
really
looking
forward
to
hearing
from
the
community
what
they
think
about
these
proposals.
A
Right
and
finally,
you
took
a
kind
of
unusual
action.
You
issued
a
proclamation
for
a
man
and
a
store.
Can
you
tell
us
about
that?.
A
C
A
C
C
A
C
A
Well,
thank
you
so
much
for
joining
us
again
mary.
This
has
been
a
great
conversation
thanks
for
having
me
mary,
okay
and
thank
you
all
once
again
for
joining
us
for
the
county
board
wrap
up.
I
think
we
all
learned
something
about
what
goes
into
putting
together
the
county's
annual
budget
and
remember,
if
you
have
more
questions
about
the
topics
we've
discussed,
email
them
here
at
atv,
arlingtonva.us
or
tweet
them
with
the
hashtag
countyboardwrap
and
we'll
try
to
answer
them
next
time
see
you
all
in
may.