Budgets, Bullets, and Deer: Arlington’s Misplaced Priorities
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| © Bill Draper Photography | Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park | 2026 |
It’s tax season. I wonder if it’s merely a coincidence that tax season coincides with the beginning of Spring.
Spring’s remarkable cycle of beauty and Nature’s renewal and filing state and federal tax returns are incongruous. While Spring inspires hope and a return to outdoor activity and sunshine, taxpayers hope for a monetary return and dread owing the government.
Concurrently, Arlington, Virginia County Manager, Mark Schwartz, is preparing the FY 2027 budget.
The outlook is grim.
The proposed $1.69 billion Slash and Burn Budget includes, but is not limited to, a tax increase for residents, the possibility of Arlington County employee furloughs or staff elimination, and - as always! - cuts to important community programs.
Arlington, Virginia libraries always suffer. Our eight libraries are crucial centers of literacy, learning, and building community. The Arlington County Government proposes to close the historic Cherrydale Library as well as decrease county library hours.
Residents are equally horrified that the Slash and Burn Budget includes eradicating the Arlington Aerials and Arlington Tigers gymnastics programs at the Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center.
Furthermore, The Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center, one of Arlington’s ten community centers, is set to be repurposed for “other operational needs.”
The center, which includes walking paths, baseball and soccer fields, is ironically next to Barcroft Park (in my neighborhood) and one of the 2026 deer sharpshooting sites.
Rhetorical question: Does the Arlington County Government plan to repurpose this vital indoor and outdoor community space and transform it into a permanent deer killing outpost?
The Arlington County budget is supposed to maintain core services. Killing deer is not a core service.
In FY 2026, the Arlington County Government budgeted $151,000.00 to sharpshoot deer. The proposed FY 2027 Deer Killing budget is $71,000.00.
At the March 2, 2026 Natural Resources Joint Advisory Group (NRJAG) meeting Arlington Natural Resources Manager, Arlington “Deer Management” Staff member, and NRJAG Staff Liaison, Alonso Abugattas, commented on the setbacks during the February 2026 deer killing program.
“The weather played some awful tricks on us,” Abugattas said. “There are two weeks we basically lost, which was sad. We could not do anything.”
According to Abugattas, “the deer were not moving” in the parks because of a winter survival phenomena called “yarding.”
Yarding is an energy-conserving and anti-predator strategy, where white-tailed deer congregate in large groups within sheltered, coniferous areas (“yards”) to cope with deep snow and extreme cold.
“It almost never happens in our part,” Abugattas said. However, in February, Arlington experienced an unusual high amount of snow and concrete ice. “Normally yarding is a New York thing.”
Since the weather conditions were not suitable for the sharpshooting contractor Wildlife Resources, LLC owned by Wes Runion, to kill our deer, this also bungled the meat processing, refrigeration, and testing the slaughtered deer for mandatory Chronic Wasting Disease before donating it to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Arlington Food Assistance Center Chief Executive Officer, Charles Meng, who draws in a paycheck of approximately $205,000.00, plus an additional $17,947.00 (benefits and expense accounts) is a willing participant in the perpetration of systematic violence against deer.
Ultimately, the blame rests on John E. Marlin and Alonso Abugattas for rushing to plan the entire deer killing operation in late 2025, execute Arlington deer in early 2026, and ignore effective, humane, science-based, deer-environment strategies that protect deer, humans, and our ecosystem.
The Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) increased salaries are funded by resident taxes and user fees. According to a recent FOIA request, the current salaries of employees directly and indirectly responsible for wasting money on sharpshooting deer are:
- Jane Rudolph, Parks and Recreation Director: $263,868.80
- John E. Marlin, Assistant Parks & Natural Resources Division Chief and Arlington “Deer Management” Staff Coordinator: $155,396.80
- Alonso Abugattas, Natural Resources Manager, Arlington “Deer Management” Staff Member, and Natural Resources Joint Advisory Group (NRJAG) Staff Liaison: $121,388.80
- Vincent Verweij, Urban Forest Manager and Forestry and Natural Resources Commission (FNRC) Staff Liaison: $127,129.60
- Marco Antonio Rivero, Principal Planner, Planning Supervisor, and Park and Recreation Commission (PRC) Staff Liaison: $125,444.8
The Arlington County Board members are paid with local revenue, primarily derived from resident and business taxes. According to a recent FOIA request, their current salaries are:
- Matt de Ferranti, Arlington County Board Chair: $103,791.48
- Maureen Coffey, Arlington County Board Vice Chair: $97,413.16
- Susan Cunningham, Arlington County Board Member: $97,413.16
- Takis Karantonis, Arlington County Board Member: $97,413.16
- Julius D. "JD" Spain, Sr., Arlington County Board Member: $97,413.16
Arlington County taxpayers also fund the salary of County Manager, Mark Schwartz. According to a recent FOIA request, his current salary is $364,936.000.
It’s time to Slash and Burn the salaries of The Arlington County Government employees who are wasting our money on a never-ending cycle of violence in a futile attempt to eradicate Arlington deer.
The amount of Arlington taxpayer money wasted on killing deer is much better spent on libraries, sports programs, the arts, and other community boosting programs, and life-enhancing services.
Slash and Burn the Arlington, Virginia “Deer Management” Budget! Please sign, comment, and share my petition to Stop The Arlington Deer Kill in 2027:
https://www.change.org/StopTheArlingtonDeerKillNow
