DES presents FY26 budget with targeted cuts, service reductions and staff changes

Arlington Department of Environmental Services Director Greg Emanuel told the County Board at a March budget work session that the department's proposed FY26 budgets include roughly $1.3 million in reductions and a mix of targeted additions to support climate and customer-service efforts.

Emanuel said the proposed cuts include operational changes intended to minimize impacts to core services but that some reductions will affect service delivery. He told the board the largest single service cut is $448,000 tied to reducing the frequency on ARTS route 43; another $318,000 in proposed savings comes from eliminating four filled positions in the internal print and mail operation, with two of those employees already eligible to retire. The proposal would also reduce custodial office-area service from five to three days per week at several county office buildings while retaining daily cleaning in restrooms and public-facing areas.

The proposed package would balance those reductions with a small number of additions and one reclassification: a full-time FTE to focus on sidewalks in commercial corridors, a conversion of a long-standing temporary procurement/contract administrator to a permanent county position, and a half-year residential parking permit administrative technician funded from user fees.

Nut graf: The department said it aimed to shield core functions by limiting reductions where possible, but acknowledged some cuts would reduce convenience or frequency of nonessential services. Emanuel said the department had tried to keep personnel levels flat overall and used transfers and vacancies to avoid larger layoffs.

Emanuel and staff provided line-item detail during the presentation. They described a gradual multi-year transition of custodial services from contracting toward a small retained in-house complement, and they said the print/mail function has been losing revenue for years due to declining demand and that the proposed phase-out would be implemented gradually with efforts to reassign or place affected employees when possible.

Board members pressed staff on which services would be affected and what mitigation would be available. Board Member Spain asked about the public-safety pilot for take-home EV chargers; Board Member Coffey and others requested follow-up detail on the sidewalk/commercial corridor FTE and the impact on service levels for constituents. Tyler (DES staff) told the board the department would return with additional slides and more staffing detail later in the work session.

Ending: Emanuel said the department would continue to refine the budget as the Board proceeds toward adoption, noting revenue and grant uncertainties and the need to balance maintenance, safety and sustainability priorities across many lines of business.