County Board

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column 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.

I ended last week’s column with my New Year’s resolution for the County Board, a no waste county budget. It reminded me of the first column I wrote for ARLnow.com one year ago.

In it, I commented on the false choice Chris Zimmerman often offers to Arlingtonians. If you have listened to his speeches, he often paints a picture that people either believe the government is capable of doing good things or nothing at all.

Nearly all Americans believe that government is necessary. On the local level for example, that means public safety, transportation, infrastructure, schools and parks. At the same time, most Americans also believe government at all levels can be inefficient and, at times, wasteful.

So, when fiscal conservatives object to projects in Arlington like the Artisphere or the trolley, it is not because we do not like for government to do anything. Rather, it is because we prefer a government that is more fiscally responsible with our tax dollars.

The Board Members do recognize the fact people want government to spend their tax dollars wisely — at least in their speeches. If you listened to what was said at last week’s meeting, you may have noted an interesting line in Walter Tejada’s nomination speech of Jay Fisette. In it, Tejada half-jokingly referred to his colleague as “cheap” — to suggest that Fisette is prudent with taxpayer resources.

Both Fisette and Mary Hynes repeated the “prudent” theme in their speeches — pointing to the County’s triple-AAA bond rating as proof. That, next to citing low tax rates when our actual tax bills are not the lowest in the region, is one of the most-used pieces of spin by Board Members to look like they are fiscally disciplined in their governance.

If you know much about the bond rating agencies, they are much like personal credit rating agencies. The number one issue for them when looking at Arlington’s “credit worthiness” is our ability to pay our debts in the future. The Washington, D.C., region was given a negative outlook when the federal government pulled back its spending levels because the federal government is our main “industry.” Arlington’s rating remains the same because our elected officials are willing to continually raise our taxes to pay our bond obligations.

A million dollar bus stop, or ongoing subsidies at the Artisphere, or the doubling of subsidy requirements for an aquatics center (now on hold because of escalating cost estimates) are what you get from a County Board that talks about fiscal discipline without a real commitment to it. It seems that in reality — talk is cheap, but our County Board isn’t.

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

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column 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.

While millions of Americans were settling in to watch the Rose Parade on Wednesday, I fired up the computer to stream the 90 minute New Year’s Day meeting of the Arlington County Board. The Board offered a handful of new insights.

We learned that the Board has jettisoned the idea of using any federal dollars for the Columbia Pike trolley project. Outgoing Chairman Walter Tejada even suggested accelerating the process now that federal dollars were no longer in the equation. Each defender of the trolley repeated a core message in their speeches yesterday: we decided to build this boondoggle project over the past decade — to question us, or turn back now, is unacceptable.

Of course, the Board has largely ignored all of the legitimate objections over that time — including the Board’s rejection of trolley opponents’ claims their cost estimates were low. The Board insisted the projections were correct right up until the time the federal government rejected the grant request over cost concerns. The federal government rejected the $250 million cost estimate. Instead, the cost was pegged nearly 25 percent higher, at $310 million.

Outside of their positions on the trolley, little new was offered in the speeches of Walter Tejada or Mary Hynes. Libby Garvey, the lone voice against the trolley project, responded predictably. Chris Zimmerman spoke briefly, saving his farewell speech for a later date.

Most of the time on Wednesday was taken by Jay Fisette in a lengthier than usual speech by an incoming Board Chairman. The speech had a few interesting elements, including an emphasis on economic development. As one who believes strongly we should hang a big “open for business” sign on our door in Arlington, I will watch this initiative with cautious optimism. At the same time, Fisette’s agenda may be far more ambitious than a single year as chairman allows time for.

While reviewing my other notes on Chairman Fisette’s speech, I received an email from civic activist Wayne Kubicki. In his message, Wayne asked if I heard Chairman Fisette’s call for Arlington to move to generate “zero waste” in regards to trash. Then Wayne asked, “does the zero waste concept apply only to trash? Why not the county budget?”

And that is my New Year’s resolution for the County Board — a zero waste county budget.

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

The Right Note is a weekly opinion column 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.

Next Wednesday, County Board members will hold the traditional New Year’s Day meeting. I started attending, or watching live online, a few years back. If you don’t mind sitting through five political speeches, it can give you some insight into the priorities of Board Members.

Another thing to expect from the Jan. 1 speeches is some good old fashioned Republican-bashing. County Board members usually spend some quality time blaming Republicans in Washington and Richmond. In general, all failures of leadership will be declared to be Republicans’ fault. This is always an interesting perspective from an all-Democratic County Board who rarely takes responsibility for its mistakes.

If you have never experienced it in person, you should consider a trip to the County Board room at 11:00 a.m. on Jan. 1. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see whether the normally collegial dynamic of the opening meeting changes now that Libby Garvey has endorsed Independent John Vihstadt for the upcoming special election.

The 2013 opening day meeting set up an interesting trolley debate for the year as well as saw Jay Fisette’s announcement he would start a personal crusade against single use water bottles. Since Fisette is about to assume the Chairmanship, we will see where this crusade goes in 2014.

The 2013 meeting also offered a preview of incoming Chairman Walter Tejada’s plans. Chairman Tejada wanted a Columbia Pike TIF and to approve chickens in backyards. Tejada was successful in moving the trolley-induced TIF forward, but the chickens did not make it across the road.

As we know, Chris Zimmerman’s upcoming departure once again gives Arlingtonians an opportunity to elect a Board Member with real political independence. Looking back at the columns I wrote over 2013, I identified a number of reasons to make the change, but here are five:

1. Arlington needs more transparency and fiscal accountability. Summed up in a few short words — $1 million bus stop. Or, the never-ending Artisphere subsidies. Or, to shed light on the close-out process.

2. The Board’s reputation of not listening to us is well-earned.

3. Arlington should be open for business. While the latest federal budget deal will put more (borrowed) money back into the local economy, we should not bank on federal dollars alone for our fiscal future.

4. In general, new perspectives are needed.

5. Because it is not too late to stop the trolley.

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