Index
Three of seven candidates for the Falls Church City Council in the upcoming May 6 election failed to appear for a debate sponsored by the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Tuesday at the Community Center. The candidates, all independents running for the first time, missed a strong discussion focused on business and commercial development
issues. Again, the sharpest distinction between the two incumbents seeking re-election to third terms, Mayor Robin Gardner and Vice Mayor Lindy Hockenberry, and independent Nader Baroukh centered on the referendum that will also be on the May 6 ballot. Gardner, Hockenberry and their ally Lawrence Webb, all endorsed by the venerable City civic association, the Citizens for a Better City, expressed their strong opposition to the referen-
dum, which would place a fixed restriction on the percentage of commercial to residential development in Falls Church. Baroukh, an opponent of the City Center project recently approved unanimously by the City Council, said the referendum involved a “complex issue,” but that he supported its passage. Baroukh is also running for City Council for the first time, and was the only self-
The Falls Church City Council will vote Monday to finalize its budget for the coming fiscal year beginning July 1, and last minute revisions will reduce the tax rate from an earlier-projected three-cent rise to two cents. The rate voted Monday will be $1.03 per $100 of assessed valuation, instead of $1.04 as previously advertised, up from the current rate of $1.01. But with a sharp drop in residential assessments this January, the tax impact on the average Falls Church homeowner will actually be a smaller bill, down $174. For the second straight year, the City’s budget is being cushioned by a hefty tax contribution from the new, large-scale mixed use projects either completed or under construction in its commercial corridors. That has more than offset the decline in residential property values, easing what would otherwise be far stiffer tax pressures on homeowners. Vice Mayor Lindy Hockenberry noted last night that without the new mixed use projects, the residential real estate tax rate would have to be $1.14 this year, instead of $1.03. The new budget includes the full request for funding by the Falls Church School Board, which despite enrollment growth, held that request to a narrow three percent increase over the previous year. The increase is almost entirely accounted for by higher teacher salaries required to keep the City’s school system
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