Washington Post Covers Budget Town Hall in McLean

The Washington Post covered a story in McLean last week --- the lively town hall meeting for citizens to comment on the proposed $6.1 billion Fairfax County budget.

We commend the story to our neighbors because it does a good job of conveying the split that's developed on the McLean Citizens Association, our unofficial town council, over government spending. Yes the same issue bedeviling national politics.

The local disagreement  played out at the town hall session and in the MCA is ostensibly over whether the county budget should rise because of increased real estate values or whether the county budget should remain flat at  last year's levels. That a difference:  more than $100 million.  The real debate is over how much the county government should spend on government services.

Just one caveat: The story conveys the wrong amount of the proposed Fairfax budget:

• $6.1 billion. Amount of proposed county budget.
• $3.3 billion. Amount of the proposed general fund.
• $1.6 billion. Amount that would be sent to the schools for school operations. 

Full Disclosure: McLean Patch is a former Washington Post reporter and editor and current stockholder.