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Politics & Government

City Begins Drafting Fiscal Year 2013 Budget

City Council began discussions regarding the drafting of the budget at Monday's meeting.

Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields submitted his budget guidance statement for the 2013 fiscal year to the mayor and City Council at Monday night's work session.

The statement is provided to initiate the preliminary discussion period for the council to consider the overall parameters for budget development.

Shields presented a current revenue growth projection of 3.8 percent for FY13, and the city is considering a 3 percent salary increase for city employees based on the financial planning model presented back in the spring and presented at the Nov. 1 planning meeting. The salary increase was a highly discussed issue among council members who want to ensure that the city is maintaining a highly competitive compensation package.

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The discussion of salary increases for city employees also brought up the question of whether the city would be able to hire more staff going forward for those departments that need it. Shields pointed out that many departments have come to him seeking more staff, but due to weaker revenue streams in recent fiscal years, the city has not been able to meet those requests.

"There are a lot of departments that could use additional staff, but I think the top priority here is taking care of the employees that we have," Shields said.

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The biggest challenges the city will face financially going forward are conditions of school and government facilities, potential Virginia Retirement System and city pension issues the continued growth of school enrollment and the status of the ongoing economic recovery, according to the FY 2013 forecast presented earlier this month.

The City of Falls Church's fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30 of the following year.

The city will provide as many opportunities as possible for the input of city residents regarding budget priorities between now and March when Shields will present final budget recommendations. On Monday Nov. 28 at the City Council's next regular meeting, the mayor and council are scheduled to act on the city manager's budget guidance.

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