CAGG Response

Coalition for Arlington Good Government

League of Women Voters Questions Related to Impacts of Different Forms of County Government

Please provide concrete information to address each point in no more than 150 words each.

Part 1

Please explain how the form of government you advocate (County Board or County Manager Plan) impacts the achievement of the following goals:

Please note: The Coalition for Arlington Good Government does not advocate on behalf of the County Manager Plan; rather CAGG opposes changing to the County Board form of government.

1. Land use planning that balances policies supporting economic growth, sprawl minimization, residential neighborhood protection, historic preservation, and livability

Arlington has obtained over many years a number of tools for developing and maintaining a livable community. These authorities have allowed Arlington to shape its development to take advantage of our transportation hubs and protect our residential neighborhoods.

Among these tools are the rights to receive easements to assist in development, transfer density rights between properties, and the assessment of civil penalties for violations of the zoning ordinance. To protect historic properties, the county now has authority to assess civil penalties for wrongful demolition. Other authorities enable the control of bright lighting, litter control including the requirement to cut tall grass; removal of vehicles, and licensing of peddlers.

If Arlington adopts the proposed County Board form, all these authorities are lost (amendments to §15.2-700 of the Virginia Code). The loss of Arlington's ability to control growth could lead to disastrous consequences for our community.

2. A "safety net" system that provides housing, food, medical and other services to the most needy in our community

Arlington's current County Manager Plan (CMP) gives the county the authority to protect and create affordable housing for low income, elderly, and disabled residents. The CMP also permits the county to require the inclusion of scattered site affordable housing in multi-family projects for which developers seek zoning amendments; defer property taxes for low income elderly, which allows them to stay in their homes; and permits the county and developers to provide relocation benefits to tenants who are displaced during redevelopment. Furthermore, the CMP combines the Health and Human Services functions into a single department, improving coordination of services to clients. The CMP also enables Arlington to set more rigorous standards for child care providers than the state requires. Adults supervise smaller groups of children and are required to have more training. Arlington personnel provide staff training and inspections of centers, which is not the case under the County Board form. Arlington's affordable housing, child care, and human services authorities would be lost under the proposed County Board form.

3. High levels of public safety

Arlington's current form gives a professional County Manager responsibility for recommending a budget for county services. The Police, Fire, Sheriff and Office of Emergency Management draft their own budgets: staffing levels, equipment and programs. The Manager's staff balances these requests with available resources and competing needs from other departments and the schools, and prepares the Manager's budget. The Board conducts public hearings and work sessions on each section of the Manager's Budget, adjusting line items and department budgets. In the most recent process, the County Board restored proposed cuts to Fire and Police.

Under the County Board form, each County Board would have to determine what powers they would delegate to the Manager for budget preparation. Because the County Board form requires election of all board members every four years, this process could shift radically between more Manager discretion, or more Board discretion. The County Board form could also politicize spending decisions because County Board members would have a direct role in the hiring, promotions and pay of all County employess.

4. A quality public school system

Using the Superintendent's budget as a starting point, the School Board conducts public hearings and budget work sessions adjusting the Superintendent's recommendations and adopts a budget that sets salary levels, staffing levels, class sizes, etc. School Board members, like County Board members are elected to staggered, four-year terms on a countywide basis. This method promotes a system-wide perspective to redrawing school attendance districts, and helps avoid divisiveness that could result from single member districts where board members feel it is necessary to bring resources to their own districts. Boards with staggered terms enhance long-term planning and implementation of multi-year programs.

Moving to a district based system could also further politicize and inflame school boundary issues, because each member would be looking our for their own district rather than the good of the entire County.

Arlington's high quality child care programs and pre-schools contribute to students' school success, and moving to the County Board form would weaken oversight of Day Care Centers in Arlington (see answer to question 2).

5. Provision of adequate levels of affordable housing

With authorities granted under the County Manager Plan, Arlington created the Affordable Housing Investment Fund. Using this fund, the county partners with developers of affordable housing (APAH, AHC, Wesley, RPJ, etc.) to acquire, develop, or redevelop affordable housing. A special authority permits the Arlington to require developers of multi-family residential buildings who seek zoning amendments to include affordable units in their projects. "Affordable Housing" means housing units guaranteed for at least 30 years to be affordable to residents earning 60% or less of the area median income. The County Board's objective is to add at least 400 such units per year. Another important authority unique to the County Manager Plan permits the county to offer a "Live Where You Work" program to school and county employees to rent or purchase a home in the county. Under the County Board form the authorities that permit the initiatives listed above disappear, and Arlington would face a serious setback in its effort to provide affordable housing.

6. An approach to county employment and to human rights more generally that ensures that everyone is treated in a fair and equitable manner

Under the County Board form, Arlington would lose its ability to protect against sexual orientation discrimination. Two sections of the County Manager Plan are vital to fairness and equity because they permit Arlington to have Civil Service and Human Rights Commissions. The Civil Service Commission advises the County Manager and Human Resources leadership on policies to promote an effective work place. It also provides hearings for employees, appealing a decision by the Manager on their grievances. The Human Rights Commission permits Arlington to define "sexual orientation" as a protected class in employment, housing, and business activities. Furthermore, the County Manager Plan authorized Arlington to establish a deferred compensation plan for employees to save for retirement, and permits Arlington to offer retirement benefits to permanent part-time employees. The County Board form has none of these authorities, and they would be lost upon its adoption.

Part 2

Please cite one example of the way that the opposing form of county government would undermine the quality of life in Arlington.

Arlington would become a less welcoming and diverse community. We would lose the authority to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination. We would lose the ability to provide affordable housing. We would lose tools for controlling and managing growth. We would lose the ability to provide stronger child care protection for the youngest and most vulnerable among us. All of these changes would undermine our quality of life, and would tear at the very fabric of Arlington's civic life.

Our opponents state that our legislators can regain all the currently authorized local authorities that would be lost under the County Board form in one session of the General Assembly. This is simply not accurate, and is the reason why Arlington's General Assembly delegation recently came out unanimously opposed to the change of government referendum.

If the referendum were successful, every one of the special powers related to the County Manager Plan disappears -- on January 1, 2012. Under the County Board form, Arlington will share a form of government used only by four rural, sparsely populated counties in Southwest Virginia. In order to regain our lost authorities, or to gain new ones, Arlington would have to receive either the concurrence of the other four counties or a 2/3 vote of the Virginia legislature, both of which are highly unlikely. The referendum proponents would have us all gamble on a new system of government, which may or may not address their stated reasons for the referendum, but which would eliminate a number of important current local authorities that Arlington residents have fought for and benefit from.