Opinion

The Right Note: Board Watching

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column by published on Thursdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark Kelly

Every year since I moved to Arlington in 2000, the County Board has passed a budget that effectively raised our taxes, either through increased rates or in effect, by not offsetting appraisal increases with tax rate decreases. And, every year in recent memory, the county’s press staff sends out a statement claiming it’s not really that bad.

This year’s press release said the tax increase will only cost the average homeowner $23 more per month. Over the past five years, the increases cited in those press releases total $73.50 per month. So, it now costs the average homeowner $882 more per year to live in Arlington than it did in 2008. In case you were wondering, this is only a small bite compared to what the Board has done in the revenue raising department since 2000.

If you rent, you have not escaped this cost as your landlord has most certainly passed some or all of these taxes on to you.

My favorite argument heard from at least one board member is that we should be glad to pay more property taxes because our houses are worth more. Of course, unless you sell your house, you will not recognize the gain. We actually have to pay the taxes from our incomes. I don’t know about you, but my income has not doubled since I moved into my home while my property taxes have.

The tax increase passed unanimously on Saturday. Then on Tuesday, county staff disclosed that the federal government pegged the price tag of the Columbia Pike trolley project at $310 million — nearly 25 percent over what we were told. The federal estimate said the project could cost as much as $402 million. Of course, when the federal government is estimating, we can safely assume to bet on the high side.

This price tag does not come as a surprise to those following the issue closely. It demonstrates the need for increased and independent accountability in how the Board spends our money.

As I wrote recently, it is time to revisit the idea of opening an office for an independent inspector general. With the under-estimated trolley cost, Artisphere cost overruns, and the $1 million bus stop, the perception that Arlingtonians are not getting straight answers is growing. In response, the County Manager announced she was reorganizing the internal auditing functions instead of bringing in a true independent perspective. With a $1 billion plus budget and $1 billion plus in debt, it is time to do more than an internal staff shuffle.

There was some good news from the April County Board actions. The Board agreed to treat food trucks like any other motor vehicle and allow them to park for two hours in parking spaces. While many communities have moved to impose additional restrictions on food trucks, this common sense move in favor of promoting both increased dining choices for consumers and opportunities for small businesses was a good one.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Morning Poll: Rising Rents to Start Falling?

By ARLnow.com

Colonial Village apartmentsFor those who argue that the rent in the area is too damn high, there’s some good news and some bad news.

The bad news: you’re right. The Washington, D.C. area has the second-highest rent of any large metropolitan area in the country, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

At a median rent of $1,391 per month, the region’s rent is more expensive than San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and second only to San Jose. Adding to the misery, D.C.’s rent has been rising faster than any other large metro area, according to the Washington Examiner.

The good news: expect rents to start going down, at least in some areas. According to Bloomberg News, D.C. area rent is expected to decrease up to 2 percent this year, and fall even faster next year, due to an oversupply of new apartment buildings. There will “‘no doubt’ be a ‘glut’ of apartments in the next 12 to 18 months,” Bloomberg was told.

Just don’t expect the rent to keep falling. Bloomberg reports that the local apartment market should stabilize by 2016 and rents should start increasing, once again, by about 4 percent annually.

We’re interested to find out if Arlington has seen any impacts from the expected apartment glut. If you rent an apartment and you’ve renewed your lease in the past 12 months, how much did your rent change?

 

File photo

The Right Note: No Use for This Tax

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column by published on Thursdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark KellyThe new Virginia transportation plan assumes it will receive revenue from online sales taxes captured under proposed legislation currently being considered by Congress. While the plan faces a number of hurdles in Washington, many are wondering how it would work?

Online sales have been largely exempt from taxes based on a Supreme Court case decision requiring a seller to have a physical presence in a state in order to be subject to collecting that state’s sales tax. Instead of trying to overturn this legal precedent, proponents of imposing online sales taxes have deftly moved to the other, largely unknown side, of the tax. It’s known as the use tax.

If you’ve never heard of it, you are not alone. By some estimates, 99 percent of use taxes are not paid. This makes it the type of ineffective government plan that is likely to be a prime candidate for repeal.

What is a use tax? In the simplest terms, residents of Virginia are legally required to pay a tax on any items you purchase that are not currently subject to a sales tax. So, whether you have been shopping tax free at Amazon.com or in Delaware, you technically owe Virginia sales tax on those items.

I found out about the use tax the hard way when my wife received an item as a gift that was shipped into Virginia from North Carolina. The revenue office acquired the shipping invoice and sent us a tax bill well over a year later. Rather than spending countless hours fighting the charge, we simply paid it, despite not having purchased the item ourselves.

Since then, I have always made a voluntary contribution to the use tax on my annual Virginia tax return. I also have been waiting for a statewide candidate who calls for repealing the use tax as part of their platform.

Now the use tax is proposed as the vehicle for a big revenue increase that will take more money out of our economy. Under the theory that we in Virginia, and in most states, currently owe this use tax anyway, the proponents of federal legislation view this mechanism as a way around the Supreme Court ruling requiring a physical presence in a state to collect sales taxes. To do so, the plan would require us to pay the use taxes for Virginia on online sales at the point of sale.

If the federal law enabling use tax collections passes, Richmond should drop the plans to spend it. Instead, we should move to immediately lower the sales and use tax rate in a manner that ensures there is no net increase in revenue. Our Virginia economy would benefit from this approach. It would help all Virginians, and particularly those with lower incomes who need to maximize their buying power.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Peter’s Take: Wrong Budget Priorities Stall Foreign Language Teaching

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Peter RousselotEarlier this year, when Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Patrick Murphy unveiled his proposed schools budget, he coined a new phrase to describe school expenditures which he was NOT proposing. He called them “unfunded investments”. George Orwell would have tingled with admiration.

Among Dr. Murphy’s unfunded investments was any money to start foreign language instruction at any Arlington elementary school that is not already offering such instruction. Acknowledging the inequity of the current situation in which some elementary schools offer this instruction while others do not, Dr. Murphy polished his Orwellian credentials by calling these unfunded foreign language programs “lighthouses to places we need to be going”.

Let’s acknowledge right up front that in a schools budget currently exceeding $500,000,000, there are areas in which savings could be achieved and should be achieved. Let’s also accept Dr. Murphy’s estimate that it currently costs about $450,000 per school to add a foreign language program to each of the nine elementary schools that currently lack one. In Arlington’s current budget environment, the best that could be hoped for is that this instruction could be phased in over several years. There is no sign, however, that any such gradual phasing is actually going to occur.

Parents at Tuckahoe Elementary are mounting a last ditch petition drive to ask the County Board to provide such a program in their school. In their petition, the Tuckahoe parents state:

“Tuckahoe students are being denied the important educational opportunity of learning a second language at an early age. 13 out of 22 Arlington elementary schools have this opportunity, including nearby schools such as McKinley, Jamestown, Ashlawn, and Glebe.”

These Tuckahoe parents may not succeed this year, but by taking their case directly to the County Board they have found the right target. It is the misplaced spending priorities of the County Board, not those of the School Board, that are primarily responsible for the unfair and inequitable situation in which these Tuckahoe parents now find themselves.

As I wrote last week, excessive and extravagant spending by the County Board on projects like the Artisphere, the Aquatic Center, the Clarendon dog park, and the Columbia Pike streetcar are directly impacting the ability of Superintendent Patrick Murphy to honor promises to the schools’ community to expand elementary foreign language instruction.

The County Board has dropped a black curtain over the beacon that might otherwise shine from Dr. Murphy’s lighthouse.

Peter Rousselot is a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia and former chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

Peter’s Take: Childcare Fiasco is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Peter RousselotAs ARLnow.com reported last week after an enormous public outcry, the Arlington County Board has decided not to accept a proposal by the Arlington County Manager to save roughly $250,000 annually by cutting the additional staff Arlington needs to enforce stricter child care standards for Arlington childcare facilities.

What prompted the County Manager to make this proposal in the first place? What are the most important lessons to be learned from this experience?

The County Manager made this proposal because she was instructed last November to make recommendations for cuts in the County’s operating budget that added up to one half of the then estimated $50 million shortfall in the budget. She was looking for ways to cut about $25 million out of the operating budget. This proposed $250,000 cut represented only one percent of the savings she was trying to achieve, yet she proposed the cut anyway.

I believe the County Manager made this recommendation in good faith because it was her way of trying to cope with the lack of willingness by the County Board to reduce or eliminate the huge expenses associated with financing projects like the Artisphere, the Aquatic Center, and the Clarendon dog park. With those projects and others like them “off the table”, the Manager was forced to reach out for a relatively small projected saving in an area like this.

The many Arlington consumers of child care services revolted and shone a light on the risks of gutting Arlington’s child care guidelines. But, those risks were well known, or certainly should have been well known, beforehand.

This $250,000 skirmish over childcare guidelines is just a taste of much more dire cuts to Arlington’s social safety net that are in the offing in future battles over the FY 15, 16, and 17 budgets unless the County Board fundamentally alters its current trajectory of layering one overly-costly capital project after another onto a budget beset by revenue shortfalls due to the flat commercial real estate sector of Arlington’s economy.

Claims that some of these capital projects, like the Columbia Pike streetcar, don’t impact Arlington’s operating budget because they are funded by a “special surtax on commercial property that can only be used for transportation”, are just plain wrong. These supposedly special capital projects do indeed affect Arlington’s operating budget adversely. There is “no such thing as a free lunch.”

The same commercial property owners who pay this special transportation surtax also pay the regular real estate tax that funds the bulk of Arlington’s operating budget. If the Board continues to impose this special transportation surtax at the maximum rate, while also continuing to raise the regular real estate tax rate that directly funds the operating budget, these commercial property owners will pass these costs on to Arlington consumers of their products or services, or they will move to greener pastures in Tysons.

Peter Rousselot is a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia and former chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

The Right Note: A Good Reason to Vote?

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark KellyAt last week’s Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting, party leaders stressed the importance of giving voters a positive reason to come out and support gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe in November.

You might question the sincerity of that plea since the meeting took place immediately after a “dramatic reading” of excerpts from Attorney General Cuccinelli’s book. Based on Mr. McAuliffe’s ongoing resume problems, they may actually spend a lot of time talking about the Attorney General instead.

But, what about a little farther down the ticket? What does County Board Vice Chairman Jay Fisette offer to inspire Arlingtonians to vote in 2013?

Mr. Fisette stands firmly behind the Columbia Pike trolley boondoggle. And, he has offered no indication that he would support a straight up or down vote on the issue. Yes, a vote is possible if the Board adjusts the funding mix to include a small amount from general obligation bonds.

It follows that Mr. Fisette is squarely in favor of building the 24 super bus stops on Columbia Pike as well. Yet, the first one took so long, cost so much, and was subject to such intense public ridicule, that the project has now been stopped pending review.

ARLnow ran a story on Monday on the black hole of spending known as the Artisphere. Mr. Fisette recently admitted the arts center did not meet expectations. It should not have surprised him as the Board ignored those who predicted the Artisphere’s shortcomings at the time the Board approved the project.

The Board will raise taxes yet again this year and still may not be able to fully fund our police and fire departments. Remarkably enough, fiscal responsibility and public safety are the top two issues listed on Mr. Fisette’s campaign website.

Website issues list aside, Mr. Fisette has made a “crusade” against single use water bottles — his number one pet project for the year. He announced it at the Board’s kick-off meeting January 1st and has followed through by scheduling a public forum on the topic.

Any effort to legislate on water bottles at the County level will likely go the way of efforts to regulate single use plastic bags, single use styrofoam, or even energy use in private homes — another Fisette idea. The Virginia General Assembly is unlikely to lift the Dillon Rule for Arlington to regulate these items any time soon.

However, it might make you wonder if a water bottle “crusade” was what the local Democratic leaders had in mind to inspire voter turnout.

It might be time to schedule another dramatic reading.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

The Right Note: Time for an Inspector General

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark Kelly

Stockton, California is proceeding in bankruptcy. It is a cautionary tale of a local government who thought the goose would continue to lay golden eggs and allowed themselves to spend more than prudence dictated.

Stockton is about 50 percent larger in population than Arlington and it is the largest city to go bankrupt. Stockton’s debt at the time of filing for Chapter 9 protection was $500 million, approximately half of Arlington’s current debt load. Jefferson County, Alabama is already working through the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in history with approximately $4.2 billion in debt.

What Arlington has compared to other municipalities is the seat of the federal government as its next door neighbor. Arlington was therefore largely shielded from the effects felt in many places during the recession. While the County is not increasing spending at the rate of the last decade, our county officials have actually plowed full speed ahead on capital expenditures and show no desire to slow down.

The County spent $1 million on one dog park while harassing a business owner who wanted to beautify another one for free. The County spent millions on the Artisphere which has not lived up to any of the promises made when the Board agreed to fund the project. Voters approved a parks bond that funded an aquatics center which may cost taxpayers $79 million to construct. And, the boondoggle trolley project, which will almost certainly cost well over the current $250 million price tag, is coming to the Pike.

The current symbol of spending excess in Arlington is the $1 million bus stop on Columbia Pike — a precursor to the trolley project. The price tag is so outrageous that even CNN ran a story on it this week. The County Manager said they would “reassess” these “super stops” before moving forward, but the plan all along was for each of the 24 stops to cost over $850,000 on average.

The County Board should reassess the need for an independent office of Inspector General to audit all county expenditures. The Board has resisted the idea raised first by the Civic Federation consistently, but do we really believe the same county staff that oversaw the projects to begin with will produce an independent analysis? With a billion dollars and climbing in debt, it is time for the Board to embrace this measure of transparency and accountability.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Peter’s Take: Republicans Step Up War on Virginia’s Women

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Peter Rousselot

Virginia’s Republican Leaders are continuing their multi-year crusade to stifle the hard-won rights of Virginia’s women.

In my March 19 column, I highlighted the systematic efforts by this year’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Ken Cuccinelli, to drive Virginia women’s rights back to the 1950’s.

But Cuccinelli is far from alone. The current Republican Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell—who is eyeing a race for President in 2016–doesn’t want to let Cuccinelli overshadow McDonnell’s own efforts to restrict women’s rights. Last week, McDonnell exercised his gubernatorial authority to modify legislation passed by the Virginia legislature earlier this year.

McDonnell added an amendment to Virginia health care reform legislation that interferes in women’s private medical decisions by prohibiting insurance companies from offering policies that cover safe and legal abortion as a part of Virginia’s health exchange. This is part of McDonnell’s effort to curry favor with the far right wing of his party. McDonnell does not want to be outflanked by Cuccinelli in Republican right wing circles just as jockeying among the 2016 Republican Presidential contenders begins to ramp up.

From 2011’s invasive ultrasound requirements (which made Virginia a laughingstock on late night comedy shows) to burdensome and medically unnecessary health clinic regulations, Virginia’s Republican politicians continue to generate outrage with their attacks on women’s health.

Important and private medical decisions should be made by a woman and her doctor, not by politicians. Caring for pregnant women means making sure they have all the options they need for all medical possibilities during pregnancy – whether carrying a pregnancy to term or making the decision with their doctor to end a pregnancy.

The federal constitutional right to an abortion is an integral part of basic health care for women, and must be part of comprehensive insurance plans in Virginia. McDonnell’s amendment sets yet another dangerous precedent of political interference into health care decisions by eliminating coverage for care to which he is ideologically opposed—but about which he lacks the medical training to evaluate.

McDonnell and Cuccinelli need to find other ways to cozy up to the far right wing of the Republican Party.

Peter Rousselot is a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia and former chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

Restaurant Talk: Dining Out With Kids

By Nick Freshman

Restaurant Talk is an occasional feature written by Nick Freshman, a native Arlingtonian and co-owner of Spider Kelly’s and Eventide Restaurant in Clarendon.

Cafe Caturra in the Arlington Ridge Shopping CenterFood trucks? Sure! Cupcakes? Bring it on! No subject is too risky, so let’s go right for the perpetual hot button topic of almost every live chat or website about food: Kids.

I enter on all sides of the conversation here: I’m an operator who deals with families all the time, I’m a Dad who loves to eat out with my daughter, and I’m a diner who often likes eating out with just grown-ups. A lot of you fall into the latter two categories, so you can surely appreciate how nuanced the topic is.

Here is the deal: some kids are angels eating out, some kids have a hard time in restaurants, and sometimes it’s the same kid on different days. Some parents are like Baby Whisperers with their kids, some parents struggle more, and sometimes it’s the same parents. Also, we could all probably stand to take a deep breath and relax just a little bit.

It’s just that simple. And it’s just that hard.

As an operator, I love kids. Their parents spend money, after all, and there are a ton of advantages to marketing to families. In Arlington, families represent a very lucrative demographic; I’d be crazy to ignore them. Also, as stated above, today’s family at brunch could turn into next week’s anniversary dinner or next month’s mom’s night out in the bar. We have always prided ourselves in welcoming kids into Eventide and Spider Kelly’s. We have families ourselves.

And let me be very clear to point out that the responsibility for ensuring everyone has a good time is on us. It’s our job to make all our guests happy, and that’s what we try to do.

But we could all use a few ground rules.

When I became a parent, I realized that the restaurant business had actually prepared me well. For work, I had to learn to be ready for anything at anytime. I had to learn to keep calm and trust my preparation. Parenting was the same except infinitely more wild and unpredictable. The best part about kids is you never know what will happen next, but that can make plans and events and dinners maddening. A sense of humor helps a lot, but it won’t always save the meal.

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The Right Note: On the Radar

By Mark Kelly

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column by published on Thursdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Mark KellyIt’s a busy week in Arlington with varied possible topics to discuss in this space. The governor signs a transportation bill and vetoes an Arlington hotel tax, the school boundary debate continues, there are three public forums to raise concerns with the County Board, and there’s Peter’s Take on Ken Cuccinelli.

Governor McDonnell signed the largest tax increase in Virginia history to pay for his transportation plan. It includes regional taxing authority and projected revenue from an online sales tax that may never materialize. While many on my side of the political fence did not support the tax plan, we are hoping that the new transportation dollars will go farther than they did on the $1 million bus stop here in Arlington.

The Governor vetoed the Arlington hotel tax which, somewhat surprisingly, made it through the General Assembly. Since the tax is paid by guests from other places, its rejection seems to come down to the fact that Arlington gets no special love from elected officials in Richmond. Of course, it seems the feeling is mutual.

There is no less enviable job in the world than being on any school board that has to change boundaries. No matter the overcrowding issues in any school, telling parents their children may have to move from one school to another is no easy task. The Arlington School Board hopes for consensus, but I imagine there are four board members who are glad they are not on the ballot this year.

Mr. Rousselot’s attack on Attorney General Cuccinelli was an over the top campaign scare tactic. Rousselot said that Cuccinelli “would exploit every opportunity to set Virginia’s women back 60 years to an era in which they were ‘stuck in the drudgery of domestic servitude.’” Certainly, for any voter who bases their vote on the issue of abortion, there is no doubt where the two candidates stand. To make the leap to “drudgery” and “domestic servitude” strains the bounds of credibility. For insight into the Attorney General’s view of women, before he ran for any office, see this Washington Post profile.

The County Board is holding three public forums this week. While many people have shown up with statements and questions, I think we have all learned by now that the Board will do what they want to do. If the public input fits into their agenda, all the better. If not, that will probably be okay with them too.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

Independent’s Day: S-A-L-T in the Wound

By Jason Howell

Independent’s Day is an occasional opinion column published on Wednesdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Photo courtesy Jason HowellAs a society do we accept the responsibility to care for those less fortunate? As I sat in a packed room at the American Legion Auxiliary Unit in Vienna last Saturday, I asked myself this very question.

Social Action Linking Together (S-A-L-T.org) sponsored a “Richmond Legislative Wrap Up” which attempted to summarize the effects of their efforts on Virginia’s 2013 legislative session. The SALT organization, founded just over 10 years ago by John Horejsi, is a volunteer led organization focused squarely on the poor. Their website references the Conference of Catholic Bishops and “solidarity with those who suffer, working for peace and justice.”

Wow. This is hardly a political winner but SALT is no political organization. From the vantage point of my campaign last year, SALT was one of the few organizations that highlighted the working poor; those who work in the shadows of our 3rd wealthiest county in the nation.

Photo courtesy Jason HowellWith a website copyright dated for 2008, SALT is hardly a well oiled machine but knowing how to get people active and involved has to count for something. Nearly 13 political leaders accepted invitations and our Delegates Patrick Hope and Alfonso Lopez spoke to an audience of about 100 on a cold Saturday morning. Perhaps the most raucous applause was reserved for a 7th grade girl (pictured) named Rae Moar. Rae led her 7th grade class, her parents and a couple faculty members on an initiative to support the “backpack bill.”

What is the backpack bill? From my memory, it was a bill to provide school supplies to children who can’t afford them. Unfortunately, I can’t find one article about this online. But Rae apparently raised money for a lot of backpacks, received a well earned award, and spoke eloquently. Even 35th District Delegate Richard Saslaw felt comfortable stating, tongue-in-cheek, that Delegate Hope better watch out in about nine years.

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