December 7 – 13, 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. 42
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I����� T��� W��� N��� S���� U� ��� B����W��������� P��� Following deliberations by the Falls Church Planning Commission, the Insight Property Group’s proposal for a seven-story mixed-use building and six-story residential multi-family building at the northeast corner of E. Broad and N. Washington is scheduled for a long list of City boards and commissions this month. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 8
F.C. Council, Schools Mull Holding Tax Hike to 6 Cents With New HS
Budget Guidance for New Cycle Will Be OK’d Next Monday
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
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Democrats are optimistic that no matter which way the recounts go, the narrow margin that will be seated in Richmond on Jan. 10 will ensure that logjams on some key policy issues will be broken, especially in less-partisan cases. He predicted that Medicaid expansion, with $6 million in federal funds daily that Virginia has refused to accept until now, due to its association with Obamacare, will be passed, allowing for a huge
The Falls Church City Council and School Board held their annual joint meeting Monday night to get a first glimpse at what the coming budget cycle will look like, and with the citizens’ solid approval of a $120 million bond referendum to build a new high school, there was no talk of holding the line on taxes, but only on how to manage the rate increase that will certainly come. Kicking in the process for the new school construction involves a minimum six cent tax rate increase above the $1.33 per $100 of assessed real estate valuation that exists now. But can the City and the school system forego any other funding increases? On the good news side, from a taxation standpoint, the schools have faced a new enrollment increase of only eight this fall, though that it is clearly an anomaly not expected to continue. Next year it is expected to rise by 63 students, or 2.5 percent. The other good news is that the City is expecting revenue growth higher than for either of its larger neighbors, expected to be three percent, due in part to higher than regional-average growth in real estate assessed values, and new commercial development. The total growth adds up to an estimated $2.5 million. There are rising fixed cost demands that will impinge on that number, for things such as interjurisdictional agreements, increased debt service on capital projects, facilities maintenance and equipment replacement, school enrollment projections and employee compensation.
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A push to expand Medicaid coverage throughout Virginia was the focus of a public forum hosted by the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s Northern Virginia Chapter at the Columbia Baptist Church by Bailey’s Crossroads last week. SEE PAGE 14
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Show me a person who has no true friendships and I’ll show you someone with little if any talent for generosity, which is a muscle built through interactions with those who have no biological or legal claim to you but lean on you nonetheless. SEE PAGE 18
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After dropping two games in the Raider Tip-Off tournament last week, the George Mason High School boys basketball team bounced back, trouncing Trinity School at Meadow View, 85-46. SEE SPORTS, PAGE 20
INDEX
Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes12–13 Comment ....... 16–18 Sports .................20 Business News ...22
Calendar .......26–27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER of the City of Falls Church, Kiran Bawa, is shown brie�ing the joint meeting of the F.C. City Council and School Board Monday night on the revenue and expenditure parameters of the upcoming budget year. The Council will adopt guidance for that budget deliberation next week. (P����: N���-P����)
With Dem Surge in Election, New Richmond Hopes Arise BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
The stunning gains made by Democratic state legislative candidates in last month’s election will make a big difference come January when all the newly elected candidates are sworn in in Richmond. In the state House of Delegates, the Democrats closed the gap of a wide and persisting Republican majority by picking up 15 new seats in the 100-seat body, and
pulled to within a virtual tie, pending the outcome of recounts in four of the races that are now underway. This moment, the Republicans are clinging to a 51-49 lead, but Democrats are hopeful that they can prevail in one or two of the recounts where the margins are razor thin and irregularities have been documented. Falls Church’s delegate Marcus Simon, himself easily re-elected last month, told the News-Press in an interview yesterday that