As of Jan. 1, 2007, the Reston Community Center will truly belong to the residents of Reston.
"At that point, we will truly be the Reston Community Center," said Bill Bouie, chair of the Reston Community Center Board of Governors. "It is now the Reston Community Center — not the Reston-Herndon Community Center, not the Reston-Great Falls Community Center, not the Reston-Vienna Community Center — and that is what really counts."
In the last year, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors twice reduced the size of Small District Five — the special tax district which funds the Reston Community Center. The tax is added to homeowners' property taxes, and the current rate is 4.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
Boundary changes made in March removed homes with addresses in Vienna, Oakton and Herndon, and added new homes with Reston addresses. This resulted in a net decrease of approximately 300 properties.
However, several other neighborhoods expressed a desire to be removed after the March boundary changes were made. A subsequent public hearing was held last month and on Nov. 21, the Board of Supervisors approved one final adjustment to the boundaries of Small Tax District Five — removing eight neighborhoods represented by 687 households, at its western and northwestern edges. The resulting boundaries of the new Small Tax District Five are more in keeping with the boundaries outlined in the Reston Master Plan.
Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) initiated action on Small Tax District Five boundary constrictions at a Board of Supervisors meeting in February of this year. She had received correspondence from constituents disgruntled about being taxed for a center they did not use. Hudgins said that it was only appropriate to re-examine the Small Tax District Five boundaries as it had been created over 30 years ago.
"Since the creation of the district, the community has changed significantly," stated Hudgins in a press release.
At Monday's Reston Community Center Governing Board meeting, Board member and Finance committee chair William Penniman said that the final boundary changes will result in $326,000 of lost annual revenue for the Community Center.
"But some of this will be offset by the development of new properties in the area," said Penniman.
Penniman noted that the official numbers on the amount offset by new development will not be available until "sometime in the future when the county can provide us with more information."
Bouie said that although the boundary change process was "a long haul," he felt that it went "very, very smoothly," due in large part to the efforts of Supervisor Hudgins, and Fairfax County staff.
"Now it's off of our plates, and we don't have to deal with it anymore," said Bouie.