It’s almost here. Metro’s first SafeTrack work begins on Saturday. Are you ready with alternative commuting plans?

The first of 15 “safety surges” will affect Reston-area residents and workers as the repairs be on the Silver and Orange line lines.

After many recent delays and safety incidents, Metro is implementing the intensive schedule in order to make three years of necessary repairs in about a year.

To avoid gridlock, commuters are urged to consider carpooling, vanpooling, taking the bus, biking and teleworking as often as possible during Metro’s ongoing work.

Nick Perfili and Ciara Williams from Fairfax County Department of Transportation will be online Thursday, June 2 at noon to answer your questions about commuter options in the county. Log on live or submit your questions to learn more.

A new study says Fairfax County and its western neighbor Loudoun are some of the happiest places in America.

In its second annual survey, the financial website Smartasset.com looked at nearly 1,000 counties with populations of 50,000 or more. Smartasset then looked at eight factors, some positive and some negative.

The positive factors were each county’s marriage rate, income ratio (the ratio of median income to cost of living), life expectancy and physical activity rate (the percentage of the population getting adequate physical activity each week). The negative factors were each county’s poverty rate, unemployment rate, divorce rate and personal bankruptcy rate.

Not included were factors that residents who live here experience: high home costs, long commutes and an overcrowded public school system. Read More

Express buses will be running from Reston to the Pentagon when Metro’s SafeTrack program gets underway early next month.

That’s just one means of mitigating aggravation, delays and traffic during Metro’s accelerated safety program that will condense three years of repairs into one year.

Metro will accomplish this by working nights, weekends, and in 15 “Safety Surges,” which will mean rolling, longterm track outages in various parts of the system.

See the full schedule of Safety Surges.

Reston-area commuters will be affected early in the process. The Silver and Orange Lines will be single tracking from Ballston to East Falls Church June 4 to 16. Then from June 18 to July 3, the Silver/Orange/Blue lines will be closed from Eastern Market to Minnesota Ave/Benning Road in D.C.

Metro officials said Silver Line trains will run about every 18 minutes during the surge. They are also encouraging riders to seek alternate forms of transportation.

Fairfax County Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova said on Tuesday, following a transportation committee board meeting, that the Board of Supervisors is “very supportive of the SafeTrack Plan.”

“We feel the time is more than over for WMATA to put in this kind of safety effort,” she said. “But it will not be easy and convenient for folks.”

Bulova said she encourages Fairfax County commuters to carpool, take buses and and telework during Safety Surges.

The Pentagon bus service will cost $4 per trip. It will depart from the Reston North Park and Ride (11300 Sunset Hills Rd., opposite the Wiehle-Reston East Metro) every 30 minutes from 5:05 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. The one-way trip is expected to take 35 minutes.

In the evening, the buses will depart Pentagon Bay L7 every 10 minutes from 3:40 p.m. to 6:05 p.m.

See more information and more alternative transportation resources on Fairfax County’s website.

Photo: Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, after Tuesday’s transportation committee meeting.

Now that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved a $4.01 billion budget for 2017 — a plan that nearly fully funds Fairfax County Public Schools — it is time to look ahead to Fiscal Year 2018.

The supervisors and the school board will engage in a joint retreat on June 14 to get a jump on what surely is to be another testy budget battle.

Even with a new tax rate, approved on Tuesday, of $1.13 (a 4-cent jump) of assessed home value, the county and the schools will likely feel the pinch again next year.

FCPS superintendent Karen Garza, who had requested a 6-percent increase from the Supervisors for 2017, has already predicted similar needs for 2018 as the nation’s 10th-largest school system faces rising cost drivers such as retirements, health care and the need for special programs.

The budget shortfall initially was about $67 million, but in the end, the schools received about $2 billion from the county, or about a 4.8 percent more than in 2017.

Now, on to 2018.

“There continues to be a projected shortfall of over $75 million as we project ahead to FY 2018,” Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova said at the 2017 budget markup session last week. “This projection includes revenue increases of approximately 2.4 percent based on limited projected growth in the county’s real estate market.”

“The projected shortfall makes it clear that difficult budget decisions lie ahead,” said Bulova. She directed the county executive to outline a FY 2018 budget that “allocates current projected available resources between the County and Schools.” Read More

The average Fairfax County homeowner will see a rise of about $300 in his or her annual tax bill next year.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved its $4.01 billion Fiscal Year 2017 budget. The motion passed 7-3, with Supervisors Herrity (Springfield), Linda Smyth (Providence) and John Cook (Braddock) voting against it.

The supervisors’ vote approves a tax increase of 4 cents per $100 of home value, to $1.13. This will provide an additional $93 million to the county annually.

At a budget mark-up session  last week, the supervisors said they would provide an additional $33.6 million to Fairfax County Public Schools. This was done by allocating an entire penny of the tax rate and using reallocated funds from Third Quarter Review, said Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova. Read More

For the second time in two years, Fairfax County Supervisors are considering a meals tax referendum.

Adding a 4-percent meals tax could give the county (and its services and public schools) an additional $90 million annually.

The idea, which the supervisors will discuss at their April 26 meeting, was last discussed in 2014, when county officials were looking at a strained budget. Ultimately, a task force examined the idea, but the supervisors decided not to hold a referendum. County residents last voted on the idea in 1992. It failed.

But times have changed. Aftereffects of the recession that began in 2008 have left home values flat as the county population and need for services has grown, putting the county budget in an annual battle, supervisors say.

The supervisors are likely to approve next week the $3.99 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2017. That budget will include a tax rate rise of 4 cents per $100 of home value, or about $303 for the average Fairfax County homeowner. The county will give about $2 billion to Fairfax County Public Schools.

Most surrounding jurisdictions, including Arlington, Alexandria and the towns of Herndon and Vienna, and the District of Columbia have a meals tax. Does that prevent you from eating in restaurants in those locations?

Meanwhile, grassroots efforts have popped up on both sides of the issue. Several local restaurant groups are against the idea, while many school board members and school advocates say diversifying the tax base is the only way to stave off cuts to services.

What do you say?

Ted’s Bulletin at Reston Town Center/file photo

Restonians are invited to look into the future of Reston development at an open house Wednesday at South Lakes High School from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins has scheduled the community meeting, titled “Reston…Blueprint for the Future,” to give residents an opportunity to gather information on proposed, planned and anticipated development activity within the Transit Station Areas.

It is not known whether Hudgins or other county officials will be introducing any new projects.

The open house is at South Lakes High School, 11400 South Lakes Drive, in the cafeteria, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, here is a list of development already in the works:

RTC West – under construction on Sunset Hills Road.

1831 Wiehle Avenue – application recently received by county to convert office building into residences.

1760 Reston Parkway – 23-story office building already approved but will go back to supervisors for tweaks.

Signature Residences — Apartments under construction on last remaining Reston Town Center parcel.

Reston Heights Phase II (VY) – under construction on Sunrise Valley Drive. Read More

A $16.8 million boost in state funding and additional money from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will result in practically closing the Fairfax County Public Schools’ projected multimillion shortfall for 2017.

FCPS had been facing a potential $67 million budget gap when it began planning for Fiscal Year 2017 earlier this year. The schools asked the county for about $2 billion, or half the county’s $3.99 billion budget, which is a 6-percent rise from last year.

At a budget mark-up session on Tuesday, the supervisors said they would provide an additional $33.6 million to schools. This was done by allocating an entire penny of the tax rate and using reallocated funds from Third Quarter Review, said Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova.

This will give the schools, which will receive 52.7 percent of the County’s General Fund budget, enough to “address teacher compensation, preserve existing programs, and begin working to decrease class size,” said Bulova.

“It is up to the elected officials on the School Board to determine the pay plan for teachers and how to prioritize funding for specific school programs such as language immersion and fourth grade strings,” Bulova’s office said in a statement.

The School Operating Transfer will now be increased by $88.4 million, or 4.8 percent over FY2016.

FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza said the schools now have “the opportunity to make a significant and critical investment in teacher salaries, and reduce class size, while not cutting vital student programming.”

“I am hopeful that this is reflective of a turning point in our community,” she added in a release. “This reinvestment in our community’s most important asset, our schools, will provide great dividends for all the citizens of Fairfax. We look forward to continuing to work as partners with the Board of Supervisors to solve future budget issues in the best interests of the residents of Fairfax County. “

The supervisors will vote on the final budget on April 26. The schools will adopt their budget on May 26.

At Tuesday’s session, the board also voted 7-3 in favor of a $1.13 tax rate for FY2017, an increase from the FY2016 rate of $1.09 per $100 of assessed value. The 4-cent increase will generate approximately $93 million in additional county revenue.

The rise in the real estate tax rate will result in about a $303 increase in taxes next year for the typical Fairfax County homeowner.

The new budget year begins on July 1 — but the county and the schools are already forecasting a similarly large budget gap for 2018.

That is why the supervisors are also considering adding a meals tax referendum in the November election. A 4-percent meals tax — similar to the ones in Arlington, Alexandria and town of Herndon, Vienna and Fairfax City — would provide about $90 million of revenue for the county annually.

Read more about the budget markup overall impact on this post from Fairfax County.

Karen Garza/file photo

This is an op-ed by Reston resident Terry Maynard. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now. Something on your mind? Send a letter to [email protected].

Restonians are once again faced with the prospect of the burden of an added local “tax service district  that could add hundreds of dollars to their annual property tax bill every year. The one we already have, Small Tax District 5, supports our Reston Community Center in providing cultural and educational activities for the community. The proposed new one would solely subsidize developer profits while increasing county tax revenues.

As this discussion continues, Reston Association has shared a questionnaire online with its weekly RA NewsLine (click on “Transportation Tax Survey) for residents to provide feedback on the Reston special transportation tax district idea. I urge all Restonians to vote “NO.” The following provides an explanation why.

The basis for the proposal lies in planned development in Reston’s station areas, growth that will exclusively benefit Reston’s station area landowners. Assuming that all Reston developers are as successful as Boston Properties per its 2015 annual report, their likely profit will total more than $53 billion over 40 years after building costs. That includes more than $9 billion from their future development as well as more than one billion dollars per year from their existing Reston holdings. That is an average of $1.3 billion per year!

Read More

Fairfax County Supervisors are taking another look at a county meals tax, so advocates on both sides of the issue are gearing up for a fight.

Several restaurant companies that have outposts in Reston have joined together to oppose the proposed 4-percent tax. At Clyde’s at Reston Town Center, for instance, there is a large sign in the restaurant’s lobby voicing Clyde’s Restaurant Group’s disapproval of the proposal.

Joining Clyde’s in the fight are Glory Days Grill Restaurants (North Point, Fox Mill and Great American Restaurants (Jackson’s).

“In a recent meeting, Fairfax County Supervisors went back to the well of bad ideas to bring back a rerun that almost nobody in Fairfax County wants to watch,” reps from the three companies wrote in a recent letter to the editor of The Fairfax Times.

“The ‘meals tax’ would levy up to a 4-percent tax for consumers to pay on all food and drinks purchased at restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, doughnut and coffee shops, and convenience stores across the county. It is taxation without justification at its worst.”

The restauranteurs say the meals tax is an unfair burden on residents who are also likely to see a 4-cent rise in real estate taxes next year.

In Reston, visitors to Reston Town Center resturants will also be paying to park starting in August.

Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins suggested last month that the supervisors look again at a meals tax. With the county feeling strain on its $3.99 billion Fiscal Year 2017 budget and the Fairfax County Public Schools facing a multimillion dollar shortfall, the supervisors are discussing putting a meals tax on the ballot this fall.

Hudgins said a 4-percent meals tax, similar to rates in nearby jurisdictions such as Vienna, Fairfax City, Arlington County and Alexandria, would provide close to $90 million for Fairfax County in annual revenue.

“You can’t keep services up if you are always trying to juggle this one revenue source [real estate taxes] up and down,” said Hudgins. “You can’t rely on one revenue source and be sure it gets to where you want to be.”

The supervisors discussed a meals tax in 2014 but did not move forward. It was last on the ballot in 1992. It failed.

The supervisors will discuss on April 26 whether to move forward.

A grassroots group has recently launched to support the meals tax. “Fairfax Meals Tax Dine Out” has a Facebook page, and is encouraging residents to patronize restaurants that support a meals tax and leave a flyer outlining what a meals tax can do for residents.

Photos: Jackson’s at Reston Town Center, top; Flyer for Fairfax Meals Tax Dine Out, bottom

The Reston Bicycle Club has gifted Fairfax County with a new automatic bicycle and pedestrian traffic counter for the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in REston

Officials from Fairfax County and the Reston Bicycle Club will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, April 27. The event will be held near the intersection of the W&OD and Old Reston Avenue at 10 a.m.

The counter, valued at $7,000, was purchased to help collect information about pedestrian and bicyclist traffic, Fairfax County officials said.

“The counter provides an opportunity to better document the usage of these modes of transportation, and will support the county’s planning and investment in future bicycle and pedestrian improvements,” said Adam Lind, Fairfax County Bicycle Program Manager.

“We really appreciate this generous donation and look forward to monitoring the growth in bicycle and pedestrian trips for years to come.”

The county is in the process of planning pedestrian and bike improvements for Reston as it morphs into a transit-oriented community. One of those improvements is to take the W&OD over the congested intersection at Wiehle Avenue via a bridge. The plan has been approved but will not open for about five years.

Reston will also welcome Fairfax County’s first bikeshare system later this year.

Graphic courtesy of Fairfax County

Reston Association is seeking member opinion on the implementation of a special service tax district to help pay for transportation improvements.

Fairfax County is currently in the process of examining what the Reston area needs as it moves forward as a transit-oriented community. At a meeting in February, county officials said Reston is going to need more than $2.6 billion in transportation improvements to keep up with development and population growth in the next 40 years.

High on the priority list are an urban-style street grid around transit stations and additional spots to cross the Dulles Toll Road, according to the advisory group.

At that meeting, the possibility of a special tax district was first discussed. Tysons has a special tax district in place since 2013. Businesses and residents of Tysons are taxed in order to help raise about $810 million of the estimated $3.1 billion necessary for longterm changes.

The Tysons Special Tax  for FY2016 is $0.05 per $100 of assessed real estate value.

A special tax district can be put in place by the Board of Supervisors and does not require landowner approval. Reston Association is polling members purely for feedback; it does not have authority to institute a tax or special assessment for transportation.

In Reston, homeowners already are members of the county’s Small Tax District 5, which funds the Reston Community Center. That’s in addition to Reston Association assessments, Fairfax County and Virginia taxes for all RA members, as well as cluster dues or condo fees for many.

Fairfax County’s Reston Network Analysis & Funding Plan Advisory Group asked RA CEO Cate Fulkerson what she thought of a special tax district. She told RA members at Tuesday’s annual meeting she wanted to get community opinion before she answered the question.

RA is hoping to get member thoughts so Fulkerson can report back to the advisory group in late April.

“I would like to go back and give them a sense of reaction,” said Fulkerson.

At Tuesday’s RA annual meeting, informal paper queries were distributed asking these questions:

Would you be willing to pay an additional tax based on the value of your property that would only be used to fund transportation improvements in Reston? (Yes; No)

If yes, what rate would be acceptable to you? (Rates below are per $100 of appraised property value) ($0.020; 0.025; 0.030; 0.035)

As an example, an owner with a value of $600,000 paying $0.020 per $100 of the home value would pay $120 annually for transportation improvements.

Fulkerson said the question will also be sent electronically to RA members.

See the advisory group’s breakdown of what Reston needs in the December 2015 presentation attached to this previous Reston Now article.

Photo: Informal questionnaire at RA annual meeting. 

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors said it will provide initial funding for restoration of the eroding hill — which has left eight sewage pipes exposed — behind Wakerobin and Cedar Cove clusters.

A broken sewer line in the eroding channel leaked into Lake Audubon last summer. Since then, RA directors and residents of those neighborhoods have been asking the supervisors for several months to find the money for the repairs, which have left sewer lines exposed.

On Thursday, RA CEO Cate Fulkerson testified at the county’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget hearings, asking the supervisors to please find the money to help solve the problem.

She recapped the erosion situation, adding that years of sediment in Lake Audubon is also adding to algae bloom and poor water quality.

The pipes are on RA land but are owned by the county. RA has said the county should also take some responsibility because much of the erosion has been caused by water running downhill from South Lakes High School and Langston Hughes Middle School.

Adding concern is a planned 40,000-square-foot addition for South Lakes High School. Fairfax County Public School officials have said the addition does not have to follow updated environmental rules and is grandfathered in under older ones.

Repairs to the outfall channel are estimated to total about $1 million, RA officials estimated at a January meeting.

Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova said at the hearing that design and permit dollars to restore the Wakerobin/Cedar Cove stream reach will remain in the proposed FY 2017 Budget. She did not elaborate on how much was available, but said it was part of the stormwater management allocation.

The Board of Supervisors will vote on its $3.99 billion budget on April 26.

“This is excellent news, and I thank all that took the opportunity to send letters of support for the budget matter and/or provided testimony,” Fulkerson wrote to residents. “In the next couple of months we will setup a meeting with County staff from the [Departments of Public Works and Environmental Services] to discuss design parameters for the restoration project.”

The RA board has also authorized allocating up to $20,000 from its operating reserves fund to conduct an independent audit of the waterflow and mitigation measures and to use the results to research the validity of FCPS’ waiver of stormwater management/ best management practices.

“I think it’s safe to say that all the residents of Wakerobin and Cedar Cove Court appreciate RA’s and Supervisor Hudgins’ initiative to put this unsightly environmental hazard on the track to remediation,” said Wakerobin resident Terry Maynard.

“As neighborhoods, we are committed to seeing the remediation project through to completion as quickly as possible even if its completion requires some neighborhood disruption for construction.”

Exposed sewer pipe near Cedar Cove/file photo