The Reston Association Board of Directors has formally adopted a new budget and capital improvement plan (CIP) for the coming year.
As proposed earlier this month, the budget will increase the assessment fees paid by members to $900 per property, up $10 or 1% from the current $890 rate.
RA staff said they were able to minimize the increase after identifying over $550,000 in “operational savings and efficiencies,” including the elimination of a chief operating officer position, a shift to a primarily digital activities guide to limit postage and printing costs, and reduced technology expenses and seasonal staffing costs.
“This budget demonstrates the value of disciplined planning and a continued focus on efficiency,” RA Board President Travis Johnson said in a press release. “Through significant operational savings and careful financial management, staff have maintained services, continued investments in community priorities and limited the assessment increase to just 1%, well below the rate of inflation.”
Johnson also noted that the vote to approve the budget at the board’s Oct. 22 meeting came earlier than in previous years, when adoption typically came in November.
Despite the cuts, the budget provides increased funding for some priorities, including contracted tree maintenance services, cybersecurity enhancements, a new mobile version of the RecTrac activity registration program, and a planned study of sediment conditions in RA’s four artificial lakes.
The budget’s adoption followed the board’s approval of a new 2027-2036 CIP at its Oct. 8 meeting.
Changes from last year’s CIP included the addition of a project to replace the lighting around Lake Anne in 2031 and a placeholder for “RA Office Improvements” in 2029, pending a decision about the lease for the association’s headquarters at 12001 Sunrise Valley Drive.
According to RA CEO Peter Lusk, the lighting at Lake Anne will be in need of replacement “in the next five years or so.”
“Due to the age of the lights, replacement parts can be hard to find,” Lusk said in a statement to FFXnow. “This process will require extensive engagement with the Lake Anne community. It is important to note that there are no planned changes ahead of the published date in the CIP, and staff look forward to speaking with the community in the future about this project.”
RA’s office lease is set to expire at the end of July 2030. No decision has been made yet about whether it will be renewed or whether the homeowners’ association might downsize or relocate.
“RA staff are in the process of a space planning exercise with an eye towards an efficient space that serves the RA membership,” Lusk said.
Other highlights of the CIP include funding to purchase new furniture for all swimming pools by 2030 and an extension of a stormwater management program for replacing culverts that was introduced this year. The plan allocates $75,000 to culvert work through 2028 before increasing to $100,000 annually starting in 2029 to allow “a higher volume of replacement,” staff wrote in a memo.
Among other projects, the upcoming year is expected to bring a new splash pad for the Uplands Pool, a renovation of the Lake Newport tennis courts, and the conclusion of a three-year trail improvements project focused on standardizing and upgrading markers and signage.
Interest high in Lake Newport improvements
At a public hearing before the board’s vote on the CIP, multiple members called for the scope of the Lake Newport tennis courts renovation to be expanded beyond the courts themselves, which will be converted to tennis-only facilities with no pickleball.
Julie Bitzer, chair of RA’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, suggested moving up future projects at Lake Newport, including a gazebo replacement, to 2027. Speakers also advocated for lighting and path improvements, bathroom renovations and the addition of a hitting wall.
“I’m so pleased to see the planned renovations moving forward. But I’d like to, as Julie stated, encourage the board to think beyond just the playing surfaces and consider the entire facility holistically,” Reston resident Usman Zafar said. “I think we have an opportunity to make Lake Newport a safer and more accessible and more welcoming place for everyone.”
The board debated whether to formally shift the timing of the gazebo replacement project in the CIP from 2028 to 2027, but ultimately left it unchanged after staff clarified that some of the safety-related upgrades, including new lighting at the court entrances and repaving of the pathways, will be included in the court renovations.
Lusk told the board he would be “happy to have that conversation” about potentially moving the gazebo to 2027, but the restroom and hitting wall would be bigger undertakings unlikely to happen before 2028 anyway. He pointed to the Hook Road improvements as a possible “prototype for adding restrooms around Reston.”
“It’s a balancing act between how quickly can construction get done and the courts reopened and how much of the project we can get done within the weather space that you have each year,” South Lakes District Director Jennifer Jushchuk said before the vote to bump up the gazebo replacement failed. “So, I’m comfortable not moving it — not to say that it’s not going to get done, but I have faith that staff will bring it to us if they’re able to bring it to us in an earlier year and it’s not going to affect our funding model.”
The adopted CIP anticipates a total capital budget for 2027 of $4.48 million, a slight reduction from the $4.5 million projected in the 2026-2035 plan. Future years also fall in the $3.6 to $4.6 million range.
In his statement to FFXnow, Lusk described the adopted CIP as “a good news plan for the Association.”
“The plan is based on [facility] condition assessments completed in 2024 that allow the Association to address the most pressing maintenance needs for the Association while continuing to improve existing amenities,” he said.
