Vienna Budget Hearing Set For Public Input On Monday

Vienna VA

08 April, 2022

9:55 AM

Description

VIENNA, VA — Town Council will hold a public hearing on the 2022-23 Town of Vienna budget this upcoming Monday. The public hearing at 8 p.m. Monday is intended to allow comments from the public on the budget proposal. The public hearing follows work sessions on March 12 and 14. Budget adoption is scheduled for May 16. The $48.7 million budget proposal includes four funds: a $30.2 million general fund, $11.5 million water and sewer fund, $6.4 million debt service, and $531,000 stormwater fund. The proposal is a $5.4 million increase, or 12.7 percent, over the current year's budget. The budget proposes a real estate tax rate of real estate tax rate of $0.2125 per $100 of assessed value, a 1-cent decrease from the current rate. Town of Vienna property owners pay this real estate tax on top of Fairfax County's real estate tax. Even with a rate reduction, increasing property assessment values mean the average residential tax bill would increase from $1,864 to $1,933. The real estate tax rate reduction would be funded by $550,000 from the 2020-2021 budget surplus. The town's water and sewer fund is proposed to increase by 6.3 percent due to increases in sewer treatment costs and transfers to the general fund. Water rates are proposed to increase by 2.6 percent, while sewer rates would increase by 6.3 percent. In addition, service charges for residential accounts are proposed to increase from $31.30 per quarter to $32.80 per quarter. The average customer's bill would increase from $833 to $873, or $40 per year. The proposal adds no new programs for the town, but salary increases factor into the budget increase. The budget would provide salary increase for eligible town employees and step-based pay system for sworn public safety employees to address the 40-year high inflation. The pay increase seeks to address health insurance premium increases, which will be 11.7 percent for most town employees. See all budget documents on the town's website. Other notable items are on the Town Council meeting agenda for Monday. Town Council will consider design to begin for parts of the Robinson Trust Sidewalk Projects, consider adopting Fairfax County's real estate tax relief changes for seniors and people with disabilities, and a memorandum of understanding with Vienna Little League for the town's July 4 fireworks at Yeonas Park.