Despite earlier claims to the contrary, the board of supervisors for Fairfax County is now considering a 3 cent rise in the real estate tax. I am not a knee jerk Republican who opposes all taxes, but I think Fairfax County needs to get it under control. Through the real estate boom Fairfax County just kept increasing it's budgets as the revenues poured in and assessments rose. They should have seen an end to that from miles away but somehow they are surprised? We sent 81% of the state taxes collected outside of the county to support the rest of the state so they make up the difference with the real estate tax. If I paid my house of today I would still have a $700/mo mortgage payment just to pay the taxes. Write your supervisor today to let them know what you think of this idea.

20% of voters want to just reduce government and damn the consequences
70% of voters want to reduce government BUT NOT MY PRECIOUS PROGRAM!
10% of voters want MOAR TAXES PLZ

If it was for police, fire, blight strike force, mental health, etc I'd support it. But when the money is for porky school junk forget it.

This is why that lengthy redistricting thread had some merit [ condense about 250 plus pages of it] and there is actual information to use on why the tax rate should not be increased. Items on CIP's: unneeded additions [Langley, Westfield, extra space at new Glasgow]. That Langley addition commenced actual work this past summer when FCPS was gearing up for the west county boundary process AND had received the ZERO increase in budget notice from Fairfax.

January 2008 the school board went counter to it's Feb 2007 amendment on this project:

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/53204.html

Some don't want pet pork cut but most are in the hands of FCPS. I don't see why Youth Sport ornganizations and others using school or public facilties can't pay highe fees. I don't think the copunty trash , leaf, recycling service even covers costs . Churches rent schools.

Time for some fresh faces on the BOS. Conman must go FIRST! And a seat for
him in Congress? Our worst nightmare!

Here are some pork specifics.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/government/board/bdagenda/3-10BoardPackage.pdf

p 47 of 112 [pdf doc]:
The following rates are not recommended to change AND SHOULD GO UP:
Reston Community Center at $0.047/$100 assessed value;
Burgundy Village Community Center at $0.02/$100 assessed value;
I-95 Landfill ash disposal fee at $11.50 per ton;
Special service district for pest infestations at $0.0010/$100 assessed value.
Leaf Collection Districts at $0.015/$100 assessed value;

The following rates are recommended to increase:
Refuse Collection Services assessment from $330 per household unit to $345 per
household unit.

The following rates are recommended to decrease and SHOULD NOT:
McLean Community Center from $0.028/$100 assessed value to $0.026/$100
assessed value;
Energy Resource Recovery Facility fee from $33 per ton to $32 per ton.
==========

trash "sanitary districts" - am I paying for other people's trash, recycling , and leaves?

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/trash/coll_main.htm

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta/realestatetax_servicecharges.htm

$330 annual for trash or 27.50/month ...with increase it still might not meet the costs
leaves .015/$100 accessed value - $15 per $100,000 of value.. so a million dollar property pays Fairfax County only $150 to haul off the leaves???

Newly-elected Springfield Supervisor Herrity (and Sully Dist. Supervisor Frey) didn't support it. It's refreshing to see members of the Board not rubber stamp everything Connolly proposes, like previous Springfield Supervisor, Elaine McConnell usually did.

Not only are they considering a tax hike, they're now also considering renaming the govt. center, as a tribute to Tom Davis!!

Talk about a total waste!! I don't care what the guy has done, there's no way the county should be spending any money on completely unnecessary things like this!

Total lunacy...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002749.html

Tell the BOS and the SBto cancel South County Middle School plans since there is room at Lake Braddock. That will save millions.

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not only are they considering a tax hike, they're
> now also considering renaming the govt. center, as
> a tribute to Tom Davis!!
>
> Talk about a total waste!!...
He can have his Laurel Hill elementary school naming. He's the highest placed pork farmer that wants that middle school. Might as well be on the school board instead of Bradsher. In this budget cycle ramming that thing through was irresponsible and he needs to go. Davis put more stuff in South County over the last few years largely for the benefit of Fairfax Station noobs than the people actually living /working by the prison. My kid had an idea for housing for illegal immigrants based on the Post article. Church owned housing from back when they had lots of monks-priests in training.

Those "small government" republicans are all about renaming things for fun and profit. They forced D.C. to change all the signs for National Airport at a cost of something like 10 million. Pretty soon we won't be able to find our way around because every road will be named Ronald Reagan Blvd and every building Ronald Reagan Center. And they haven't even gotten around to renaming things for Shrub. Since he did a lot more damage than Reagan I suppose they'll want to name even more things for him.

But we already pay more for our "community Center" then anyone else. It should be called the Fairfax County Recreation center because that's what it is with it's 38 county employees who run it. -Rod

So will it be Tom Davis Middle School in Lorton?

Where does the money go? Follow the yellow brick road...

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dmb/advertised/FY2009/fy09_advertised_where_it_goes.pdf

too much money is going toward buying computers (from dell or whomever). buying cheaper hardware and having them assembled, using linux and free programs would cost a tenth of the current cost. too much money is going into these stupid fucking schools... and to microsoft.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

hehe

i wonder how big is the dell contract with Fairfax County.

Not to mention FCPL, which uses dells

Gravis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> too much money is going toward buying computers
> (from dell or whomever). buying cheaper hardware
> and having them assembled, using linux and free
> programs would cost a tenth of the current cost.
> too much money is going into these stupid fucking
> schools... and to microsoft.


A tenth is a stretch. The OS tax is perhaps 20% of the cost when buying a Pro edition WinBlows, which I assume the business users would be doing.

Plus I worked for an org that tried the "assemble cheaper hardware" method and it failed because too many workstations were involved. Yeah if you need to supply a ten-person closed group with PCs building may be cheaper, but when you are buying thousands of PCs that are being used in many (often unanticipated) environments it helps to have integration-tested PCs. Plus Dell prices in bulk can often beat pieces-to-assembled-PC arrangements anyway... I'd take the integration-tested and warrantied PC in that case every time.

Harry Beaver Wrote:
>> i wonder how big is the dell contract with Fairfax County.

You can look up those values on the county's contract register, just look at the award notices. Keep in mind that the award value is not always indicative of the amount of money spent, depending on what contract type they are using.

I heard Connelly say Well its only three cents. The way he spoke it was like just three cents more in total money next year rather than the 3 cents more per hundred rate.

Fairfax needs to have a set amount of money and that is it. You spend it all away you get no more, just like the rest of us do in this county. When all these school bonds start kicking in then the county will see real problems. The interest rates on those bonds will cripple the county. Interest as in tax money collected that goes for nothing but to pay off interest.

Just once I would like to see someone on the BOS stand up to the schools and tell them what the word NO means.

FCPS better get it's head out of the sand and cut junk.

There have been foreclosure sales in ALL sections of this county plus SHORT sales. The buyer purchases the house for less than the seller's mortgage. I don't understand why the buyer would have taxable income.

One went in Evans Farm the pricey Mclean development. I don't get why anyone would pay that much for a townhouse not INTOWN. I also don't think the buyer made a good deal in this market if they paid close to list since the thing sold NEW for about 1.38 - so how short was this sale???

Is buying a used townhouse NOT IN TOWN like buying a used car?



____HARVEST CROSSING DR
MCLEAN, VA 22101
Subdivision: EVANS FARM Price: $1,230,000 - For Sale
MLS ID: FX6631191
County: FAIRFAX Status: CNTG/NO KO
List Date: 01/11/2008
built-in Elevator that could be run from LL to UL1. "AS-IS" & subjects to Third Party Approval.

In a short sale the seller usually has taxable income--not the buyer. Since the mortgage company is forgiving part of the loan, the difference between the sales price and the mortgage balance is considered a gift and is therefore taxable. However, recently passed legislation would waive that for the time being. In answer to your second question, buying a used townhouse is nothing like buying a used car, whether or not it is in town. A car is a depreciable asset that loses value over time. Real estate generally gains in value over the long term. And while McLean isn't technically "in town" it's not exactly Gainesville either. McLean real estate will most certainly gain value over time.

pgens,
i think getting cutting edge hardware is stupid. you can easily build a computer for $250 and get a monitor separately and that's WITHOUT an educational discount.

these are current documents. if we had FCPS tech people do stuff, it wouldnt cost $113 for a 30GB drive or $130 for 512MB of RAM

especially since they are upgrading with OBSOLETE PARTS!

DELL PRICE LIST - html http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:n_wP-UUr2FAJ:www.fcps.edu/fs/procurement/contracts/DELLNOTEBOOK-RQ07-866277-42A.pdf - pdf http://www.fcps.edu/fs/procurement/contracts/DELLNOTEBOOK-RQ07-866277-42A.pdf
District Technology Assessment - html http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:70u-ouH471gJ:teach.fcps.net/DTA0607-final.pdf - pdf http://teach.fcps.net/DTA0607-final.pdf

	Total Needed	2007/2008	2008/2009*	2009/2010*	2010/2011*	2011/2012*
Student Workstations 6:1	5424	2072	610	610	610	1522
Staff Workstations	2268	348	397	340	285	898
Total Units	7692	2420	1007	950	895	2420
Total Cost		$1,335,840.00	$709,935.00	$524,400.00	$630,975.00	$1,706,100.00

	Total Needed	2007/2008	2008/2009*	2009/2010*	2010/2011*	2011/2012*
Student Workstations 3:1	10848	2072	2418	2418	2418	1522
Staff Workstations	2268	348	397	340	285	898
Total Units	13116	2420	2815	2758	2703	2420
Total Cost		$1,335,840.00	$1,984,575.00	$1,522,416.00	$1,905,615.00	$1,706,100.00

*Includes Monitor Purchases

All amounts from 2008‐2009 on are unfunded at this time.
Currently we are at a 7.4:1 student to computer ratio when looking at computers 5 years old or
newer. Any move toward a 3:1 student to computer ratio or a more aggressive 1:1 initiative
would naturally increase the unfunded amounts considerably.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Here's where they plan to spend- no waste money:
http://southcountymiddleschool.org/Media_Room.html

Connelly gives away money from the Taj-Tammany Hall.

On a smaller tech issue FCPS was doling out Blackberries to staff who did not do much. Plus some of them I heard were walking around the schools and they couldn't use them. Coulsd have bought a walkie talkie set at toyr r us or ranger rick's.

This seems to be grounds for a petition to a circuit court for recall or some state oversight on FCPS.

In a real kick to this whole saga the school board is pushing for an ADDITION to South County PRIOR to building that middle school. I guess the high school capacity will end up similar to Westfield. So we are supposed to pay for IB, an unnecessary middle school, AND an addition at South County.

That is the second interim bricks and mortar addition - Westfield the first - built to accomodate students for another school. No- third since they built an addition at Lake Braddock bordering South County. They want 10 million from the board of supervisors and 2 from the CIP.

http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/39c6389c088be51585256e56000c1bf2/50c2def4de723d81852572dc00546857/$FILE/3-10-08%20WS%20Summary.pdf