Just How Many Perks Do Arlington County Employees Want?
This week’s Arlington Connection reports on the County Treasurer Frank O’Leary’s plan to help solve the affordable housing problem. According to the Connection’s David Schultz:
“O’Leary’s plan calls for half of those reserve funds – $30 million – to be reinvested in local banks that would then issue the funds as discount-rate mortgages to County employees. The mortgages could only be used for the purchasing of a home in Arlington.
“All those employed by the County, including public safety officers and school employees, would be eligible for the mortgages as long as they were an employee in good standing. The mortgages would cover up to $417,000 of a home’s value and would feature interest rates well below what the current market is offering.”
County and school employees are already eligible for so-called Live Where You Work grants, which the Arlington County Board and Arlington School Board started dishing out several years ago. And according to the FY 2008 report (requires Adobe) of the Washington Area Boards of Education, Arlington school employees have the costliest benefits of the region’s school districts.
Besides, it’s not like taxpayers who subsidize those benefits don’t have the same problems finding and paying for affordable housing. ACTA's president is quoted in the story.