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Falls Church manager proposes 2.5-cent real estate tax cut in $134 million FY2026 budget with $500,000 contingency
Summary
City Manager Wyatt Shields presented a proposed FY2026 budget at a town hall that would cut the real estate tax rate by 2.5 cents, hold other tax rates steady, add a $500,000 revenue contingency and increase operating spending while reducing reliance on capital reserves.
City Manager Wyatt Shields laid out the City of Falls Church’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget at a public town-hall meeting, saying the plan would lower the real estate tax rate by 2.5 cents from $1.21 to $1.185 and put a $500,000 contingency into the budget to guard against revenue shortfalls.
Shields said the budget is “just under a hundred and $134,000,000,” and that education represents roughly 42 percent of the total. He told the audience the proposed tax-rate change and other items reflect both local growth and regional economic uncertainty: “we are a growing city” with 10–10.5 percent overall growth in assessed value, he said, and noted about 16 percent of the city’s workforce are federal employees whose incomes may be affected by federal developments.
The nut grafs: Shields described the package as a limited set of new investments while preserving progress on council priorities. New operating proposals in the plan include a 5 percent compensation increase for employees, additional funding for interjurisdictional contracts ($903,000), a $700,000 increase for street maintenance (raising roadway maintenance funding to $2,200,000), $150,000 for IT and finance-system improvements, a $133,000 allocation to refresh police body-worn cameras and a continued $500,000 commitment to affordable housing. He also proposed a $500,000 revenue contingency to buffer the general fund and school transfer against revenue volatility.
Shields said the city has reduced its real estate rate in four of the last five years because assessed value has risen; for the median homeowner he projected a roughly 3.4 percent change in their tax bill — “about $400” in the city’s examples. He said personal property (vehicle) tax and sales tax revenues are forecast to increase, while meals and BPOL are expected to be flat amid regional uncertainty.
On debt and the capital program, Shields said debt service will decline roughly $1.8 million next year as the Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School debt is retired, and that the six-year capital-improvement plan totals about $148,000,000. He noted the city is already administering roughly $21,000,000 of stormwater work the council previously appropriated, and that about $46,000,000 of CIP funding is expected to come from federal and state grants. Shields said the CIP will use just under $10,000,000 of capital reserves in coming years and that no general-tax-supported new debt is planned until FY2028.
Mayor Hardy, who opened the meeting, framed the budget as a core community decision: “this is 1 of the most important decisions we make each year, is to ensure we are being good fiscal stewards of taxpayer dollars and that the budget reflects the priorities of the community.”
The city staff emphasized the timeline: materials and presentations are posted on fallschurchva.gov/budget; council work sessions and ordinance first readings are scheduled in April with a final council vote planned for May 12; the fiscal year begins July 1.
The presentation closed with an invitation for public comment and a reminder the town-hall materials and the April 7 work-session packet would be posted for public review.
