Wednesday Morning Notes

Columns

by RestonNow.com April 25, 2018 at 9:00 am 13 Comments

Homeowners, prepare for a hit — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors have sent forward a budget that includes increases in the county’s real estate tax rate. Most homeowners will pay an additional $241 annually. [WTOP]

Report card for Boston Properties — The real estate investment trust reported results for its first quarter, with a net income of $176 million, up from 97 million this time last year. [Business Wire]

South Lakes High School summer camp — Registration is now open for summer camps at the school, which offers programs for girls basketball, field hockey, football and volleyball. [SLHS]

Flickr pool photo by vantagehill

Just sane

Condo fees are a total rip off and so is BXP paid parking and the increase in real estate taxes.
- Greg
  
  I dunno — condo fees pay for roofs, paint, parking lots, plants, and snow and trash removal and maybe some new bushes or flowers.
  
  The others, though, are troubling.
Chuck Morningwood

BoS to Homeowners: We kindly request that you bend over so that we might extract more money to fund our spending sprees.
- Mike M
  
  Get used to more of the same. It’s clear that dense development does not result in efficiencies of scale, especially when the developers can foist infrastructure on the backs of the local taxpayers. Thanks, Cathy Hudgins! Thanks, Sharon Bulova. They wanted to launder this hit via a sales tax. But that failed. Now their management failure is a little more transparent.
Amy Sue

Cutting federal spending to the bare bones (except for the military which spends as much as they like with no accountability) and allowing developers to run wild without funding their fair share of needed infrastructure improvements (roads, schools, police, fire, etc) create a perfect storm that will crush middle class taxpayers in the county. This is only the beginning….
- The Constitutionalist
  
  I don’t think you understand how budgets work. I agree with you that this is only the beginning, but I’m not exactly sure how you connect the federal budget, military spending, developers, and the middle class.
- Greg
  
  If anything, boosting military spending is a huge bonus for Fairfax County as the Beltway Bandits (several of which have or will soon have HQ’s in Reston) ramp up staffing, spending, and office space absorption.
  
  And, federal government spending adjustments have not even nicked skin let alone touched bone. The left has underfunded some things for years and now the right is rebalancing the budget; nevertheless, the overall federal 2019 budget is $1.6 trillion.
  
  As you will see, most departments got more than POTUS’ budget. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d026793f95db339b6fd63c33c2f690cc33a2c00543fdd5b97d876b271fd1f0ef.png
  Sadly, Fairfax County did not listen to the taxpayers when we told them we did not want more and higher taxes when the food tax was again rejected.
  
  Fairfax County also badly bungled its reassessment this year. My house and my neighbors’ houses are identical to one another. Same age, same condition, same lot size. Only difference is side of street — east assessment went down $25k; west went up $60k.
  - Big Drop
    
    “The Left?”
    
    Really.
    - Greg
      
      BOHICA — you will be paying more in Fairfax County taxes. Brought to you, 8-2, by the left.
      
      Fact, so really!
- Facilities check
  
  Amy Sue,
  
  I know you don’t care about facts, but the feds actually spend more money on welfare programs every year than they do on the defense, which by the way, has a budget just like every other government program.
  
  Also, while you’re educating yourself in how the US government is structured (if only), you might want to take a look at who is responsible for local infrastructure.
Walter Hadlock

I get a kick out of “average tax bill will go up $241”. That doesn’t help those of us who saw a 10% increase in our real estate assessment. I think our neighborhood went up that much because a couple of houses sold for much higher prices (I suspect because demand is exceeding supply.). Since the assessors basically look at recent sales, it’s “oh look how much all the other homes in the neighborhood are now worth”. And, up goes the assessment.
- Conservative Senior
  
  Not always……….RTC Midtown assessments decreased $100-200 K even though most sale prices increased. Not fair.
  - Greg
    
    See my comment below. Totally irrational this year.

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