By Brian Trompeter
Continuing the town of Vienna’s 11-year-long streak of holding the real-estate tax rate the same or lowering it, the Vienna Town Council on April 24 agreed to cut 1 cent from the rate this year.
The Council will adopt the new rate of 19.5 cents per $100 value at its May 15 meeting. Vienna residents, who live in Fairfax County, also must pay the county’s real-estate tax.
Vienna Town Manager Mercury Payton’s proposed fiscal 2024 budget was based on a quarter-cent cut in the tax rate, but the Council subsequently found ways to drop that figure another 0.75 cents to offset at least somewhat the higher average property assessments residents received this year.
The town will achieve the lower rate by adjusting budgets to reflect recent circumstances and striking from the budget a proposed increase in health-insurance rates, which did not materialize.
The new rate will decrease by more than half the additional real-estate tax burden that average homeowners will absorb because of higher assessments. Yet the rate will be sustainable in future years and still permit the town government to maintain an 18-percent unassigned general-fund balance for the subsequent year’s budget, town officials said.
“We’re all worried about storms on the horizon,” said Finance Director Marion Serfass. “We don’t want to be too conservative” when setting the real-estate tax rate.
Council OKs Contract for Traffic-Calming/Bio-Retention Project: Hailing it as a staff triumph that creatively added value, the Vienna Town Council on April 24 unanimously awarded a $292,265 contract to Bright Construction Group to build a combination traffic-calming and bio-retention project on Tapawingo and Kingsley roads, S.W.
The town will contribute $94,615 from its sidewalk fund to the project in order to build curb extensions that, either because of their size or location, will not provide bio-retention facilities.
The remaining $197,650 will come from an amended funding agreement with the Fairfax County government.
The Vienna town government will maintain the facilities once the project is completed, said acting Vienna Public Works Director Christine Horner.
Council members praised town staff for enhancing the project. The initiative originally was going to include just traffic calming, but staffers suggested adding bio-retention facilities in the lane-narrowing “bump-outs” to help the environment – and likely get some grant money to do it with, said Council member Ed Somers.
“I think projects like this that accomplish multiple goals are great for the town,” Somers said. “It just shows you how blessed we are, for a relatively small staff of a town, to have such great thinkers who are always bringing to us new ways of doing things and accomplishing multiple goals.”
Vienna Town Council Approves 3 Speed Tables for Echols Street, S.E.: Following recommendations from the town’s Transportation Safety Commission, the Vienna Town Council agreed unanimously April 24 to add traffic-calming measures along Echols Street, S.E.
The measures, which were determined via a study conducted by the Vienna Public Works Department, will include:
• Speed tables installed between the bridge and 400 Echols St., S.E.; one between 507 and 509 Echols St., S.E.; and one between 601 and 613 Echols St., S.E.
• Solid-white parking-lane pavement markings along both sides of the street.
• Painting the word “STOP” before the stop bars at the intersection of Berry and Echols streets, S.E.
Speed tables cost about $6,000 each, and town staff estimated the overall cost for the initiative would be about $20,000.
Last November, public-works employees studied traffic speed and volume on Echols Street between Branch Road and Follin Lane, S.E. The results showed half the vehicles were exceeding the 25 mph speed limit and 85 percent – a total of 3,287 vehicles during the study period – were traveling at speeds of up to 31 mph, said acting Vienna Public Works Director Christine Horner.
Town staff collected those traffic data after there had been some police presence on the street, so speeds otherwise might have been somewhat higher, said Andrew Jinks, the town’s traffic engineer.
Council member Ray Brill Jr. said the speed figures already were convincing.
“Half the cars are going above the speed limit?” he asked. “Case closed.”
Three or four speed tables would have fit along that section of Echols Street and town staff recommended going with three, he said.
“The idea is that if there are not enough devices located along a stretch of roadway, then having just one device will not have an impact on traffic calming,” Jinks said.
The idea is to create more natural flow of traffic rather, than having drivers speed up to get to the next speed table, then slam on their brakes, added Council member Ed Somers.
At the suggestion of Town Attorney Steven Briglia, town staff will consult with a disabled resident living along the street regarding the location of a speed table near her house.
New Sidewalk Coming to Birch Street, S.W., in Vienna: Vienna Town Council members voted 7-0 on April 24 to approve a $105,953 contract with Arthur Construction Co. Inc. to build a sidewalk on Birch Street, S.W.
The walkway will be located along the street’s south (even-numbered) side between Battle and Plum streets, S.W. The project will use an estimated 432 square yards for concrete sidewalk, 172 square yards of concrete driveway entrances, 32 square yards of curb ramps that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, 30 tons of asphalt paving and miscellaneous other items.
The project’s cost, which includes a 15-percent contingency allowance, will be financed with funds from the Maud Ferris Robinson Charitable Trust. Former Town Council member Maud Robinson, who died in March 2019, bequeathed $7 million to the town for sidewalk projects.
