Reston, Virginia - Governance

Governance

As noted above, Reston is unincorporated; it receives "municipal" services either from the county or from the Reston Association, which operates recreational facilities across the town and maintains pathways and other common grounds.

It has been proposed to incorporate Reston as a municipality. A referendum to incorporate Reston failed in 1980 by a 2–1 margin; however, the proposal was resurrected in 2005 by the Reston Citizens Association.

The covenants at Reston specify that the assessments paid to the association are to be in proportion to the assessed value of the property as determined by Fairfax County. The Voluntary City notes that this may have been an attempt to imitate local governments. However, it argues that it would have been better to assess all property owners the same amount for three reasons. First, the public goods that residents enjoy are not likely to be dependent on the value of the property they occupy. Second, the tax structure is factored into the price of the property; thus, an inexpensive home saddled with higher assessments would become even more inexpensive, because its value would be diminished by the tying of these payments to the property. Third, payments based on assessed value dampen the incentive to improve the value of the property.

Reston has a federal system of government in which cluster associations form around neighborhoods. These cluster associations are responsible for maintaining common areas and have the power to tax their residents to do so. Many of these clusters have their own websites.

The majority of Reston lies within Virginia's 8th congressional district and is represented in Congress by longtime Democratic Representative James Moran. A portion of Reston is in Virginia's 10th District and is represented by Congressman Frank Wolf. It is represented by Democrat Ken Plum in the Virginia House of Delegates, and by Janet Howell in the State Senate.