AHCA January Minutes

Ms. Morroy explained her responsibilities as the County's Commissioner of Revenue. She is responsible for assessments for tax purposes. This includes vehicles (cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, etc.) and businesses (licenses and tangible personal property). As an elected official, she is independent of the County Board and County Manager.

Vehicles are the biggest challenge. Ms. Morroy relies on weekly reports from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to find vehicles subject to county taxes. Out-of-state individuals have 30 days to register with the DMV. Alternatively, individuals can register with the Commissioner of Revenue directly.

Employees from the Office of Commissioner of Revenue actively look for vehicles with out of state plates and take action to ensure they are on the county's tax rolls. Ms. Morroy's goal is fairness. All should pay for county services. (Certain military are excepted.)

If an individual chooses not to register with the DMV, the County imposes an extra $100 fee on top of the decal fee and tax.

The NADA loan value determines the vehicle value, except for new vehicles where the invoice is used. If you want to appeal the assessed value of your vehicle, you must get an appraisal in January.

Ms. Morroy can be reached at 703.228.3033 or imorroy@arlingtonva.us. The web site is www.arlingtonva.us/cor

Ms. Simpson is a landscape architect with the County's Park Development Division. A spray park is one of our top Neighborhood Conversation Plan priorities and funding for this may be identified in June with County approval possibly occurring in July. Ms. Simpson is working to develop a concept for the spray park by this May.

She will meet with interested residents, children are especially invited, to gather input and ideas. She will then develop a concept for the spray park. Contact her at csimpson@arlingtonva.us if you would like to participate. The final design will be done in 2010 and construction could start in 2011. Ms. Simpson will look for ways to speed the process.

In response to questions, Ms. Simpson said no cuts are expected in the NC bonds that will pay for installation. Estimates of maintenance costs are not available. Potential impact on trees will be a factor in locating the spray park.

It was suggested that people visit the spray areas at Hayes Park on N. Lincoln and Lyon Village Park on N. Highland to get ideas for what could be done at Virginia Highlands Park. A spray park is under construction at Drew Park and the plans can be seen at http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/ParksRecreation/scripts/planning/pdfs/page61963.pdf

Mr. Wegeng, the County's Environmental Landscape Supervisor, described ideas for planting trees in Virginia Highland Park. He plans to plant 100-150 new trees in the park by the end of March. He hopes for community participation in an invasive plant removal day (not yet scheduled) before the trees are planted.

Mr. Wegeng said the County does not plant trees on private property. Residents can take advantage of the tree give-away in May and the grant program funded by developers. He wants to track how the trees from the give away program are doing, so the County can be sure they are giving away the right tree varieties. Mr. Wegeng also said he wants the County to do more about caring for trees. It is not enough to simply plant them.

A member of the audience suggested people contact the Arlington and Alexandria Tree Stewards for information about what trees do best in a given environment. The Tree Stewards host an information table at the central library every Wednesday from 7-9 pm during the winter months.

On the topic of Virginia Highlands Park, Mr. Cameron suggested the AHCA may want to contribute money toward fixing an erosion problem next to the soccer fields in the park.

About 25 people attended. The November and December minutes were approved.