Photo: Andreas Breitling via Pixabay
All local governments are facing the coronavirus challenge and are having to redo their current spending and proposed budgets. Some local governing bodies are “streamlining” public participation and public hearing processes, steps that some advocates argue curtail public participation.
On April 30, Catherine Ledec, on behalf of ASNV, urged the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to fund fully the Invasive Management Area Program in Fiscal Year 2020. The program is threatened by budget cuts arising from the Covid-19 Pandemic, which has reduced local revenues. The letter pointed out that because of the hours volunteers donate (equivalent to more than five full-time staff in 2019), but the program results in investment that is more than double the County’s costs.