December 14 – 20, 2017
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D ED 1991 • VOL. XXVI I NO. 43
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A 17-year-old George Mason High School student was arrested last Friday and received a felony charge for making threats against his City of Falls Church school The charge for making threats to bomb and/or damage a building and arrest were made after a multi-day investigation beginning Dec. 8. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
F.C. Council, Schools Face 2 Percent Budget Growth Limit in Coming Year Guidance for FY19 B����� ��� B���� Based on Cost of New High School
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
that covers the City of Falls Church and holds court at City Hall two days a week, and City Treasurer Jody Acosta who all spelled out in graphic terms the dangerous shortcomings of the current City Hall from a security standpoint. and why after 10 years of talking about this project, it was time to delay no further.
Knowing the cost at the onset of the high school renovation project approved by voters last month will add six cents to the real estate tax rate, the Falls Church City Council Monday voted 5-2 to limit the rate increase on the rest of City operational and school costs to two percent above levels in the current year, or slightly below revenue growth projections. The dispute was over whether the growth should be limited to two percent, as recommended by City Manager Wyatt Shields, or three percent, even with estimated revenue growth over the year to date. Because of the pressures on taxpayers to meet the challenges of the high school renovation, on top of renovations of both City Hall and the voter-approved Mary Riley Styles Public Library, also getting underway, the target two percent will put extraordinary pressures on both the City’s operational budget and the School Board budget. But Shields pointed out that in order to hold costs down, “tough things will be brought to you” in the spring, when the Council will adopt the Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. He said that priorities for him will be to maintain competitive salaries, and while the same holds for the School system, Superintendent Peter Noonan told the Council Monday night that with 84 percent of the schools’ budget already going to teacher and other personnel costs, the cost of a single “step” increase and a cost of living adjustment will exceed three percent, right there.
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The News-Press is here to tip you off to some out-ofthe-box gift ideas that may be what each person on your list wants, they just don’t know it yet. And best of all, they’re all a short walk around the City. SEE PAGE 11
P��� K������: GOP �� R������ T������� T�� B��� Today’s Republicans are apparatchiks, who have spent their whole lives inside an intellectual bubble in which cutting taxes on corporations and the rich is always objective No. 1. SEE PAGE 16
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The George Mason High School girls basketball team’s ability to win no matters who’s on the court was on full display last Friday when they thumped Broad Run, 58-34. SEE SPORTS, PAGE 21
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes12–13 Comment ....... 14–16 Sports .................21 Business News ...22
Calendar .......26–27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
FALLS CHURCH POLICE DETECTIVE Jesse Ortiz gets a shape up at The Neighborhood Barbershop Monday during the police department’s Beards for Buddy movement. The third annual event is in support of City parking enforcement of�icer Buddy Turner who has been living with pancreatic cancer since 2015. Each year in November, F.C. police and other City employees join the Movember Movement in unity for Buddy in his cancer �ight and to raise awareness for men’s health. (P����: C���� A�������)
City Hall Renovation Underway, Council Split on Overall Cost BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Following a parade of impassioned existing City Hall personnel pleading for a “yes” vote to proceed with the long-overdue renovation of the Falls Church City Hall, the F.C. City Council Monday voted 5-2 to approve a $13.35 million do-over. The project, which has technically already
begun with the relocation of key functions of the police department to the property yard, is slated to be completed by a year from now. Compelling testimony was provided by 17-year Falls Church Police veteran Lieutenant Joe Carter, Officer James Brooks, Sheriff’s deputy Matt Kaye, Chief of Police Mary Gavin, Judge Richard J. McCue, a judge from the 17th General District Court