March 8, 2013

March Madness has arrived again in Arlington!

I am not speaking of the college basketball tournament, however, but rather of the proposed budget submitted by the Arlington County Manager. In what has become an annual tradition, the County Manager once again calls for significant cuts in funding for the management of the County’s natural resources. These reductions may risk the very foundation of Arlington’s material well-being.

Overall, the County Manager proposes a budget for fiscal year 2014 of over $1 billion, a 2% increase over the adopted FY 2013 Budget. Yet, all of the economic activities that generate the taxes and fees that support the proposed billion dollar budget have some connection to the land -- the 26 square miles that we in Arlington call home.

The proposed budget reductions may strike at the very heart of the prudent management of our land base. As acknowledged in the proposed budget document (pages in parentheses):

eliminating the Natural Resources Specialist position at the Long Branch Nature Center will decrease the County’s ability to evaluate changes to the environment and conduct biotic inventories prior to development, diminish support for the Natural Resources Management Plan, and reduce the ability of the County to mobilize volunteer groups to care for the County’s natural resources (web608);
abolishing one of the urban forestry positions will lessen the County’s ability to maintain and water existing trees, remove dead plants, and install replacements in parks and streetscapes (web616);
shrinking forestry supplies (such as topsoil and water bags) by 16% will impact the health and installations of publicly-owned trees (web616);
cutting the tree distribution program will result in 1,050 fewer trees being distributed to private property owners who offer the largest opportunity for planting trees (web617);
removing funds for tree planting will cause a net loss of 50 trees on County property next year (web617); and
cancelling contracts for invasive species management will drop the annual number of acres where invasive plants are permanently removed by 71% (web618).

According to the County Manager, all of these cuts together will save the County only about $350,000, or just over three-hundredths of one percent of the proposed budget. As shown above, however, the cost to the County is much, much greater.

Are we in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg?

Comments (9)

Comment Feed

Park-related budget cuts

Hi all! Unfortunately the budget document language doesn't differentiate the duties of two separate positions in the parks division. An urban forester is a professional position: http://agency.governmentjobs.com/arlington/default.cfm?action=viewclassspec&classSpecID=14199&agency=596&viewOnly=yes . Thus, urban foresters do NOT “maintain trees, remove the weeds, mulch landscape areas, remove dead plants,” etc. As I understand it, the Trade Worker III position (a position cut from the landscaping team) is responsible for watering and maintaining trees and the other duties noted. FYI: For the cost of one urban forester, you can get almost two trade workers who maintain trees, etc., in our parks and elsewhere.

Larry’s statement about urban foresters is correct. Unlike Falls Church City, the county cannot charge property owners a fee for removing healthy mature trees. But there may be other options to discourage tree removal that the county attorney could research and identify, if he were asked to do so.

For many reasons (sequestration/federal-spending bubble, BRAC, high office vacancy rates, flat or declining revenue, etc.), we are facing a perfect budget storm. The county manager had to plug a $35 million budget shortfall in FY2014 and faces another $15–$20 million budget shortfall in FY2015.

The county board asked the manager to eliminate the shortfall with equal parts spending cuts and tax increases. Thus, the manager directed department heads to cut 1% from their budgets. And the parks division budget person recommended those cuts listed in the manager’s proposal. Likewise, the police department plans to cut 7 community police positions, and the fire department (whose EMS units cannot respond to existing emergency calls on a timely basis) is cutting approx. 3 FTEs (full-time equivalent positions). Both departments are working hard to be more efficient and find ways to do more with less.

On top of the proposed 1% cuts, the manager also must find an additional $3 million in annual general-fund revenue to operate Arlington Mill community center. Because real estate revenues are nearly flat and other sources of revenue (state and federal) are being reduced, the only way she can "find" that additional $3M is to cut something else. Hence, the cannibalizing of existing park programs and resources. This problem will only grow larger once resources are (as some already have been) diverted to Long Bridge Park's new facilities—the upcoming aquatics center operating budget will dwarf Arlington Mill's. Not all expenses for new park facilities are covered by the CIP; operating costs hit the general fund budget.

The county manager is open to changes when she receives logical, well-researched, and well-documented recommendations that are revenue-neutral (requests to shift existing resources rather than add them) and more efficient. The county board needs to hear these ideas, too. We're out of cash, folks; business as usual isn't an option.

Suzanne Smith Sundburg 72 days ago

Urban Foresters

As a volunteer and member of the Urban Forestry Commission, I have worked with Arlington's urban foresters for more than a decade. They do many things to enhance Arlington's urban forest, which includes street trees, park trees and trees on private property. Concerning the loss of trees due to development, most construction projects in residential neighborhoods are "by-right" projects, so the County lacks the authority to preserve mature trees on the property. Beause Virginia is a "Dillon Rule" state, cities and counties have no authority except that given to them by state legislation. Unfortunately, all the urban foresters can do is to make sure young trees are planted as required by County ordinances, especially the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance. The urban foresters would work to preserve mature trees if they had the authority to do that.

Larry Finch 74 days ago

bad budget cuts

We have Vince as our Urban Forester and believe me, he is busy. He helps on a variety of issues in the neighborhoods. It think from me alone he gets about 5 emails a week which we need his help on. Help consists of research, site surveys, meeting with other officials, tree assessments, tree replacements really too much to list here. The Urban Foresters are very much needed as more and development is displacing nature in Arlington.

stupidbudget 74 days ago

Ms. Sundberg's Comments

Quoting from the County Manager's Proposed FY14 Budget: "The elimination of this position will impact the department’s ability to maintain trees, remove the weeds, mulch landscape areas, remove dead plants, install replacements in parks and streetscapes, and respond to weather emergencies."

Mike Nardolilli 74 days ago

County urban foresters

The county's urban foresters are not responsible for watering trees. Those duties are assigned to other county staff members. I'm not sure what the urban foresters do beyond signing off on the paperwork that allows developers to cut down mature trees and plant saplings or donate to the tree canopy fund in return.

Suzanne Smith Sundburg 75 days ago

Cuts in funding to manage Arlington Natural Resources

The numbers of volunteer hours cited for MNs is incorrect although the total of hours is accurate. Master Naturalists report more than 8500 hours ( not 4400) and Tree Stewards more than 3300 hours which sum to 11,800. Sorry for introducing this error.

Paul Campanella 77 days ago

give back the raise please

Why doesn't the County Manager give back the huge raise she got this year to spare us some of these cuts. Also, don't build the Washington Blvd. Bike trail and save $1.5 million in construction costs. Without water bags and someone to fill them up both of which are on the chopping block the "new" trees don't stand a chance. Chop that stupid streetcar and problem solved.

BADBUDGET 78 days ago

Cuts in funding to manage Arlington Natural Resources

The proposed cuts in programs that are supported by extraordinarily volunteerism directed to improvement and maintenance of the Arlington County natural resources infrastructure is disappointing and short sighted. The Annual report from Tree Stewards and the Master Naturalists are filled with numbers and descriptions of activities that have enhanced the viability and sustainability of Arlington parks, public areas and private property. These two contributions sum to a total of more than 11,800 hrs of volunteer services (TS 3300 + MN 4400). That is 5+ County FTEs ( 1 full time equivalent =2080 hrs). These proposals send a clear message to these and other volunteers. We don't value your services enough to give even de minimus support to your efforts.

Paul Campanella, Arlington 78 days ago

Same Old

It's the usual budget 2-step. Step 1, cut programs and services everyone uses or could use while preserving wasteful, inefficient, and pet programs and services. Step 2, raise taxes to restore programs and services everyone uses or could use, after residents express unhappiness with the cuts.

Ted Morrison 78 days ago