(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) Reston Association is considering a 10% increase in its annual membership assessment as part of a preliminary budget draft for fiscal year 2025.
The proposal — which is the first of what will likely be several drafts — was discussed at a Sept. 28 Board of Directors meeting. As previously reported, the budget would include new positions and cover membership recreational passes in the assessment fees.
The Fairfax County Park Authority is seeking roughly $8 million in funds to support park operations, maintenance, and capital equipment for fiscal year 2025.
The proposed budget includes a little over $1 million to expand Accotink Stream Valley Park, Blake Lane Park in Oakton, the Elklick Preserve, Mount Vernon Woods Park, and the new Woodlands Education and Stewardship Center in Chantilly.
Planning efforts to determine an economic vision for the Lake Anne area in Reston continue to receive financial support from Fairfax County.
At a meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 26), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $200,000 in carryover funding for the Lake Anne economic visioning study. The board considered a number of items to fund by carrying over leftover money from the fiscal year 2023 budget.
(Updated at 2:50 p.m.) Operations at the McLean Community Center (MCC) are starting to look a lot more like 2019 — at least as far as its budget is concerned.
The center’s governing board will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) to gather community input on its proposed budget for fiscal year 2025, which will begin July 1, 2024 and end on June 30, 2025.
The assessment fees that Reston Association members pay every year are expected to go up again in 2024, based on a newly proposed budget.
To cover the actual costs of running the organization, the annual assessment would need to increase to $872 next year — a 14.3% jump from the $763 that RA charged this year, RA CEO Mac Cummins said in a report to the board of directors.
Reston Association has begun the planning phase for the next fiscal year’s budget.
Possible changes to the structure of the yearly assessment and changes to some capital projects may be on the horizon. A joint work session between RA’s Board of Directors and fiscal committee is planned for Wednesday (Aug. 16).
Fairfax County’s libraries are set to expand their hours later this month after going a year with reduced hours due to staffing shortages.
Last week, the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) system announced it will move back to “normal operating hours” at all 23 branches starting Aug. 28.
(Updated at 3:10 p.m.) An extra $150,00 is being requested to add a “unique lighting feature” to the colorful “Springfield” welcome sign set to be installed on a pedestrian bridge near Old Keene Mill Road later this year.
At last week’s Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting, Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk proposed that the board consider spending $150,000 from the fiscal year 2023 carryover adjustment on a lighting feature to “complement” a welcome sign going up on the pedestrian bridge near the new Springfield Commuter Parking Garage.
Fairfax County formalized its partnership with the Tysons Community Alliance earlier this week with a new agreement outlining the community improvement organization’s mission and structure.
Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (July 11), the TCA will turn to the county as a primary funding source going forward, even though it will operate independently as a nonprofit.
In the future, Fairfax County residents won’t need to trek to a park to experience nature.
Instead, the park will find them with the Wonder Wagon Mobile Nature Center, a Fairfax County Park Authority initiative that will bring educational programs on nature and the environment to underserved communities and Title I schools with limited access to green spaces.
