March 11 – 17, 2021
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Founders Row Project Gives F.C. City Taxpayers a Break City Council to Debate Lowering Net Tax Raises Soon BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
It’s about that massive construction project taking shape on 4.3 acres at the intersection of W. Broad and N. West Streets. City of Falls Church residents can thank it the next time they drive by for the fact they will be enjoying a reduction in their real estate taxes this coming year. “Thank you, Founders Row!” That single project, the largest in the City’s history to date (although one twice its size is advancing on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished old George Mason High School further to the west), is adding a big chunk of the $72.7 million in new taxable revenues that is making possible the astonishing news in F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields’ proposed $106 million Fiscal Year 2022 City operating budget that he presented to the City Council on Monday night. The news is that for the first time since the salad days before the Great Recession in 2007, City taxpayers may enjoy a one-cent reduction in their real estate tax rate (from $1.355 to $1.345 per $100 in assessed valuation) starting in their next semi-annual bill. Some on the Council want an even steeper cut. Councilman Ross Litkenhous, for example, thinks
cutting the rate so that residents have no net tax increase can happen. Given the also bigger-thanexpected growth in residential real estate assessments announced last month, even with a small decrease in the tax rate, the tax on an average residential property here will go up (by $291 for the average $752,000 home). At any rate, the news of the tax rate cut is amazing given the adverse effects of the year-long pandemic on the local, regional and national economies and the cost of building a new $120 million high school. In addition, Shields’ proposed budget does not factor in any of the stimulus money that may be coming the City’s way with the signage into law this week of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid Relief bill. That will be sending $100s of millions to state and local governments, and an equitable share of that even to tiny Falls Church could make a major difference. The Little City is also enjoying the benefit of a $3.75 million grant from the Amazon Reach program, a voluntary gift from the Amazon company targeting regional jurisdictions’ affordable housing needs in light of its plans for a massive Northern Virginia planned expan-
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THE FOUNDERS ROW project is intended to be a boon for the City’s tax base, with its revenues allowing for a lower real estate tax for residential property owners. (P����: N���-P����)
Full Elementary Reopening Coming to F.C. in April BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
The last couple of weeks of students in the Falls Church City Public School System has witnessed a return to classrooms, if only on a partial hybrid basis and limited to lower grades, has combined with
unbridled enthusiasm for the highly-praised new high school, some warmer weather and the continued vaccinations of key populations here to create an upbeat environment of optimism around the City’s public schools. Notwithstanding ongoing and mostly valid laments by some
parents that the schools have not already been fully opened, a cautious and ordered transition process has led Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan to announce this week that after spring break, (March 29-April 5) pre-kindergarten through fifth
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Sandwiched between retailers in the Falls Plaza Shopping Center is a little takeout spot, Tasty Dumpling, a Chinese, Asian and AsianFusion restaurant where customers can get delicious pork, shrimp, beef and chicken onedish meals to-go.
SEE STORY, PAGE 14
SEE STORY, PAGE 15
The Johnsons Café is a homey, New York style deli that just opened at the corner of Annandale Road and South Washington Street with its no frills exterior appearance giving no hints about the delectable foods that await patrons on the inside.
Students are returning to school after nearly a year of virtual instruction since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and teachers at all levels of Falls Church City schools are bringing some of the new tricks they’ve learned while away back into the classroom.
SEE STORY, PAGE 16
INDEX
Editorial............................................... 6 Letters................................................. 6 Comment ................................ 7,12,13 News & Notes.............................10-11 Crime Report .................................... 12 Business News ................................. 15 Calendar .....................................18-19 Classified Ads ................................... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 21 Critter Corner.................................... 22
