County Board Issues

Arlington County is confronted with several major issues that the current County Board has not dealt with adequately, among them:

Escalating Taxes

Arlington’s average FY2026 effective tax rate increase is projected at $356 or about 3.2%, which is in line with the current rate of inflation and substantially less than last year’s increase of $577 (Budget Presentation, p.25).

So how did the County Manager appease the unions and award outsized pay increases to the police and fire departments without a tax rate increase? By robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The offsetting tax rate increases occur in the form of a meals tax that goes from 4 to 5 percent and massive increases in permitting fees (Budget Presentation, p.23).

If elected I will call for a roll back of this year’s fee increases and look for ways to save money by eliminating pork from the budget.

Increasing Crime

Crime in Arlington increased 11 percent in 2024. Some of the increase is likely attributable to the County’s refusal to honor ICE detainers on illegal immigrants in County jails. Further increases will follow from the County’s decision in May to cease any voluntary cooperation with ICE. Without such cooperation, illegal immigrants released on the streets with no place to stay, and no job prospects are likely to revert to crime just to survive.

If elected I am going to lobby to restore Section 7 of the County’s Trust Policy, which authorized police to contact ICE about illegal immigrants wanted or arrested for felony offenses, terrorism, human trafficking and gang activity.

High Office Vacancy Rate

To reduce Arlington’s 24 percent office vacancy rate, I will insist that the County require federal agencies in the Metropolitan Washington Area to comply with Executive Order 12,072. Jimmy Carter issued that order in 1978 to revitalize and strengthen the Nation’s central cities, but many agencies have ignored it. The Order requires that “[e]xcept where such selection is otherwise prohibited, the process for meeting Federal space needs in urban areas shall give first consideration to a centralized community business area and adjacent areas of similar character, including other specific areas which may be recommended by local officials.” This means that whenever an area agency’s lease expires, the agency must give priority to an available space located in D.C. or Arlington, rather than in a suburb. If EO 12,702 were enforced, Arlington’s office vacancy rate would drop dramatically.

Lack of Affordable Housing

According to County reports, Between 2000 and 2013 the County lost 13,500 market rate affordable apartments. The County has replaced some of those with subsidized housing. But by 2025 the County’s committed affordable housing inventory was 11,355 units or less than half the 23,500 units available in 2000. Clearly the County has not met the goals outlined in the Affordable Housing Master Plan (AHMP) adopted with much fanfare in 2015.

Having essentially thrown in the towel on housing for low income households, the County is now doubling down on “Missing Middle” housing, supposedly affordable to the middle class. The idea is to replace homes on single family lots with less expensive duplexes and town homes. This won’t work, because as has been pointed out by noted Wharton economist Jon Huntley, escalating land values in an elastic market will price even modest homes out of reach of the middle class. What Missing Middle will provide is major impacts, including overcrowded schools, increased traffic congestion on neighborhood streets, and additional flood inducing runoff due to fewer trees and more pavement.

If elected I will lobby the Board to scrap Missing Middle as a non-solution to the housing affordability crisis and call for restoring the tax credit for renovation of market rate affordable apartments that was revoked by County Board in 2020.

School Enrollment Crisis

Arlington Public Schools (APS) projects 4.5 percent enrollment growth for the five year period through 2029. Unable to meet new classroom capacity needs, APS has resorted to housing students in trailers, which has resulted in a loss of open space on most school campuses and a degraded learning environment for a significant percentage of students.

APS also has the lowest average secondary class size of any school district in the Washington, DC area and a fifteen percentage point minority student achievement gap..

While APS can’t limit enrollment, it can increase capacity by bringing its student/teacher ratio in line with that of its peers. It can also look to other school districts for ways to reduce the achievement gap. If elected to County Board, I will encourage APS to do that.

Loss of Open Space

The County itself has documented a 5 percent increase in impervious surface, i.e. asphalt pavement, since 2001. That means an equivalent loss of tree canopy and/or green space. That may not sound like much, but it equals a lot the size of the Pentagon site every 3-4 years. Arlington County Board is not only in denial about the loss of open space, it is actually abetting it through the permitting process. In 2018 Arlington County actually permitted the demolition of a 75 year old Dawn Redwood located in a resource protection area in North Arlington in contravention of the Arlington Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance, Section 61-7.A.2.

If elected to County Board I will insist upon strict enforcement of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA) as the focal point for efforts to prevent further loss of the County’s precious remaining green space.