McLean Community Center Surplus Grows

The Finance Committee of the McLean Community Center Board started work on its next budget Wednesday night and found their $12 million surplus has grown.

The surplus which the board has accumulated over the years by collecting more in tax dollars than was needed to operate the center grew by nearly $40,000 and now totals nearly $12.6 million at the end of fiscal year 2011, which was three weeks ago, according to budget numbers distributed at the meeting.

Finance committee chair David Sanders invited McLean taxpayers  to attend a series of budget meetings the Finance committee will hold in August and September. The other committee members are Sean Dunn, who headed the committee for many years, and newly elected  board member Chad Quinn.

The entire board must adopt a 2013 budget and property tax rate by the end of September and send it to the county for inclusion in the Fairfax County budget. The Community Center is an agency of Fairfax County government and reports to Dranesville Supervisor John Foust and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The board will hold a public hearing on the budget in late September.

The 2012 budget which just took effect calls for spending about $5.5 million and a 02.3 cents tax rate, according to the budget documents.

Overall, the center carried over nearly $410,000 in unspent funds from the 2011 budget. However nearly $400,000 of that is earmarked for capital improvements in the 2012 fiscal year. For example there are plans to replace the seats in the Alden Theater and overhaul the heating and air conditioning system in the theater next year.

The finance committee handed out several documents concerning the center's budget and finances. We hope the committee will share all the information with the neighbors/taxpayers by posting it on its website.