MCA to Ask Dranesville Supervisor to Support a Tax Reduction

The McLean Citizens Association voted last week to continue its campaign to get the McLean Community Center board to either decide how to spend its $10-$12 million surplus or reduce the property tax rate it charges residents.

The MCA, an organization of McLean homeowner associations, voted to ask Dranesville Supervisor John Foust to support a reduction in the current property tax that McLean area residents pay to support the center.

"I personally lobbied our supervisor to make some kind of reduction," said Ted Smith, who as chair* of the MCA Taxation and Budget Committee, has played a leading role in pushing the MCC to spend its surplus.

 MCA member John Adams: “I’m concerned that John Foust stiffed us. . . I’m shocked to be honest with you.”

Supervisor Foust said: "We are in the process of reviewing all aspects of the county budget, including the MCC tax rate. I am looking forward to receiving comments from the community. No decisions will be made until late April after the public input process is complete."

In December, MCA unanimously approved a resolution that "strongly urges the MCC Governing Board and the Board of Supervisors to resolve the question of the disposition of the taxpayer-funded surplus and the possible expansion of the MCC’s facilities in the Fairfax County budget for fiscal 2013." 

If there are no expansion plans, then the MCC Board of Supervisors should sharply reduce the property tax rate, the resolution said.

Both Foust and the MCC Board led by Chair Kevin Dent rejected the MCA request.

The surplus has accumulated over the years because the MCC board charged taxpayers more than was needed to operate the center.

The McLean Community Center Board in September approved  a $6.6 million budget plus the $10-$12 million surplus. The budget included lowering the tax rate a minuscule amount from 2.3 cents to 2.2 cents per $100 of assessed value. The reduction would save McLean property owners $7-$10 depending on the assessed value of their home.

The MCC board said the reduction could reduce the surplus to $10 million. The MCC Board has minimally lowered the property tax rate in the past and the surplus has grown.

MCA member Bill Denk: “Clearly he (Foust) was not in a mind to reduce the rate. We’ll be sitting here a year from now and the surplus will be larger.”

MCA member Joe Gibson: “I would urge a second effort be made to get the Dranesville supervisor's attention to this matter. . . It seems to me unbelievable that the board is always surprised to have more money going to it kitty 10 years straight.”

*Ted Smith stepped down as chair of the Taxation and Budget Committee earlier this year.