The McLean Citizens Association (MCA) recently passed a resolution with respect to certain reserves currently held by MCC. The following is a response from Kevin Dent, chair of the MCC Governing Board, to that MCA Resolution:

The Governing Board of MCC has been elected by the citizens of Small District One A-Dranesville to provide oversight to the MCC, including on budgetary issues. The Governing Board takes very seriously its obligation to properly use taxpayer revenue.
 
MCC is an agency of Fairfax County government, and as such provides periodic updates of its objectives, plans and decisions to the Board of Supervisors. The Board works closely with Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust throughout the year, and conducts its business in public meetings which are open to the citizens of the Tax District.

As was discussed at the October 2011 MCA meeting, MCC’s excess reserves were accumulated as the result of significant increases in real property tax assessments between2000 and 2008. As these excess reserves began to accumulate, MCC began lowering the tax rate to eliminate this excess revenue. In fact, MCC has lowered the tax rate in four of the last five annual budgets approved by the Board. The reduced tax rate in the proposed FY 2013 budget (approved by the Board in September 2011) will reduce the excess reserve fund by about $1,000,000.00, resulting in an excess reserve of approximately $8.6M at the end of FY2013.

The Board is discussing a number of possible uses for the excess reserves.  Based on recent (and public) Board discussions, we expect that the plan that the Board will recommend will have three key components:

(i) returning a portion of such excess reserves to taxpayers by reducing the tax rate (similar to what has been done with the FY2013 budget);
(ii) expending funds to upgrade and modernize existing MCC facilities; and
(iii) exploring other options to expand MCC facilities and services.

No decision will be made to expand MCC facilities or services without soliciting public input through public meetings. To date, we have (consistent with our obligations as Board members) assessed MCC and community needs, and investigated opportunities, with respect to any potential expansion of MCC facilities or services. At this time, the Board has made no recommendations or any decision in this regard. Although it appears that the Board is being criticized for assessing community needs and doing diligence on opportunities that may be open to MCC, we believe that such assessment and diligence is part of our responsibility as stewards of these public funds, and as members of the Board of MCC.

The MCA resolution was drafted and passed without discussion or consultation with MCC; thus, we were not given the opportunity to discuss the factual inaccuracies contained in the resolution.  It is unrealistic to expect the MCC Board to produce and adopt a specific “expansion plan” before the FY2013 budget is approved. Any such plan recommended by the Board will require significant public input and Board of Supervisors approval.

Unfortunately, very few members of MCA have attended our public meetings; in my 5 years on the Board, I’ve only seen 3 MCA members at a total of perhaps 5 or 6 of our meetings. We suggest that the MCA members attend our meetings and assess for themselves our efforts in this regard, rather than rely on inaccurate and biased information from a few of their more outspoken members.  We are happy to engage any of our taxpayers in an open and honest dialogue.