The Virginia State Board of Elections certified a referendum question for the May 6 ballot in Falls Church that would, if passed, change the City’s charter by imposing a strict limit on the ratio of commercial to residential square feet in any new mixed use development project. See page 5
The Council voted 6-0 to give a preliminary “first reading” approval to waivers and special exceptions needed for the construction of a Hilton Garden Inn hotel in the 700 block of West Broad Street. See News Briefs, page 7
Barack Obama had a theory. It was that the voters are tired of the partisan paralysis of the past 20 years. The theory was that if Obama could inspire a grass-roots movement with a new kind of leadership, he could ride it to the White House and end gridlock in Washington. See page 10
Breaking from the recent liveaction versions of “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who!” is done up in CGI and looks to be a winner. Starring Jim Carrey as Horton and Steve Carrell as the Mayor of Who-ville. See page 30
While the residential real estate crisis had led some surrounding Northern Virginia jurisdictions to grapple with the prospect of monstrous hikes in their real estate tax rates, the City of Falls Church will not be similarly impacted, City Manager Wyatt Shields reported to the City Council here this Monday. Shields presented his recommended $70,427,560 FY ’09 budget to the Council Monday, noting that a hefty $101 million in assessments from new construction has ameliorated the impact of declining residential assessments, limiting the need for a tax rate hike to only three cents. Due to the new construction, mostly new mixed-use construction in the City’s commerciallyzoned corridors, Shields said that average net taxes owed by City residential homeowners will actually decline in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Since the median assessment for a single family home in Falls Church declined from $651,600 to $622,000 in the past year, he noted that even with a proposed tax rate of $1.04, up from the current $1.01 per $100 of assessed valuation, the median tax bill for single family homeowners will decline by $112. That’s because the new construction has accounted for three percent of the total assessments in the new budget, and will add far more in the coming years as projects now approved or under construction are completed. The news comes in the conContinued on Page 13