County Faces $15.7 Million Budget Gap; To Maintain Services, Arlington May Raise Property Tax Again
In the early 1990s, as a decade of prosperity gave way to tighter budgets and revenue shortfalls, Arlington officials reacted like well-honed athletes caught off guard by a mild touch of the flu.</br></br>The economy might be under the weather, they acknowledged, but the prospects of a swift and total recovery were excellent. As one of the region's most prosperous jurisdictions, Arlington was well positioned to ride out the recession, they said.</br></br>But with the county entering a fifth consecutive budget season facing a large revenue shortfall, that brand of optimism has begun to wane. Increasingly, county officials are acknowledging that they face a long-term case of the fiscal blahs, in which annual increases in the property tax rate and mild program cuts will continue to be the rule.</br></br>"There is going to be no great recovery from the recession, which we've been counting on for several years," said Mark Jinks, the county's director of management and finance. "There's a recognition on the board's part that things have to get in line."</br></br>On Saturday, Arlington County Board members received a continuing run of gloomy fiscal news that began in 1990, after a regional real estate boom came to an abrupt halt. After hearing that land values would continue to stagnate, the board approved a budget guideline of $432.1 million for the 1996 general fund budget - leaving a projected $15.7 million shortfall.