Summary

Also on the 2025 ballot are the positions of Sheriff, Commissioner of Revenue, and Treasurer. These positions have one candidate each – the incumbents. All three candidates are long-time members of the Falls Church City community who have held their positions for multiple terms, typically running unopposed.

Though unopposed in the upcoming election, the candidates for these offices are interested in letting the voters know who they are, what they do, and what they see as important priorities in the positions they currently hold. We publish their statements below, in the order in which they appear on the ballot.

Metin A. “Matt” Cay, for Sheriff
Thomas D. Clinton, for Commissioner of Revenue
Jody P. Acosta, for Treasurer

Early voting began on September 19^th, and polling stations will open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on November 4^th. To learn about the City Council and School Board candidates, read the Pulse posts, Introducing the 2025 Falls Church City Council Candidates! and Introducing the 2025 School Board Candidates! The sample ballot is available here.

Metin A. “Matt” Cay, Sheriff

I have had the honor of providing over 20 years of professional, responsive and dedicated public safety service to the City of Falls Church.

Experience and Proven Leadership

Sheriff (current), City of Falls Church
Chief Deputy Sheriff/Deputy Sheriff, City of Falls Church Sheriff’s Office
Police Officer/Patrol Supervisor, City of Falls Church Police Department
Virginia Sheriffs’ Institute Certified
Certified Public Manager
Former Practicing and currently licensed Virginia Attorney

Sheriff’s Office Responsibilities and Functions

As a state law enforcement agency, the responsibilities of the Sheriff’s Office encompass a broad and extensive scope of duties. This includes providing safety, security and administrative support for all City court operations. Court-ordered custodial transportation for court appearances, transfer to state and out of state detention and related facilities for sentencing, extradition, mental health evaluations and treatment are also functions of the Sheriff’s Office. Additional examples of court related responsibilities include civil process and enforcement, service of subpoenas and executing writs of eviction and warrants.

The Sheriff’s Office is also an essential component of the City’s public and school safety response capability providing emergency services in the event of critical incidents. The increasing numbers of community and public events held in the City, including runs, festivals, concerts, parades and other public gatherings require the service of extensive numbers of our personnel as well as equipment and other public safety resources. Sheriff’s deputies perform traffic calming and enforcement activities utilizing state and regional grants as well as participate in many community and school outreach events including car seat inspections and educational programs. Pedestrian and bicycle safety is also promoted through deputy e-bike patrols of the City and the W&OD trail. Our K-9 Ordinance Detection Program provides protection for City facilities, all City special events and court functions.

Future Considerations

The unprecedented City infrastructure development and resulting population growth and greater traffic volume significantly heightens enforcement, court and community activity as well as safety considerations and responses. Current policing standards mandate an increased focus and emphasis on specialized deputy training and capabilities, equity education, safety protocol awareness and other skills augmentation including de-escalation, alternate dispute and force resolutions and crisis intervention. The implementation of effective equipment programs and training, including vehicle and body worn cameras, were essential in conforming to public safety requirements and meeting community expectations. Operational readiness and public safety remain the top priorities of the Sheriff’s Office.

As Sheriff, I will continue in my unwavering public service commitment and remain focused on community outreach, engagement and collaboration and maintaining professional standards, practices and policies for the City of Falls Church community.

Thomas D. Clinton, Commissioner of Revenue

Tom Clinton, Commissioner of Revenue — Thomas D. Clinton

The Commissioner of the Revenue is a directly elected State Constitutional Officer and thus is a direct representative of the citizens of the City of Falls Church. I have had the honor of serving as Commissioner since January of 2002. I was first elected in November of 2001 and have since been re-elected to five (4-year terms). I was born in Falls Church, and I attended FCCPS grades K-12. I am very active in many community organizations, and I live here with my wife Karen, and my two children, Eric and Megan, who also are FCCPS graduates.

The Office is responsible for the assessment of taxes on businesses, residents and visitors that are levied by the City of Falls Church and the state of Virginia. These combined assessments represent over 20 percent of all gross revenues received by the City, or about $25,000,000 dollars, ensuring that everyone that lives, works, or visits here, pays their fair share of taxes. Revenue collection is essential to paying for critical public services and infrastructure that benefits all of our residents, business owners and visitors, and it enhances the quality of life in Falls Church City helping make it the desirable community that it is today.

The Commissioner works closely with the Treasurer’s Office, the Economic Development Office, the Finance Office, the Economic Development Authority, the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce, and the business community, providing daily services, and critical tax information about past, present and future economic development decisions and trends, which helps the short term and long term budgeting processes, all while daily demonstrating a customer friendly, pro-business, and small-town can-do attitude.

More people and businesses will be moving into the City in the very near future, adding to the existing heavy office workload. For most City residents and businesses, the Commissioner’s Office is their primary contact with City Hall, because of vehicle registrations, the turning in of state tax returns and estimated tax payments, Meals Tax payments, Notarizations, commercial or home-based business licenses, tangible personal property assessments and general City information. The Commissioner’s Office receives the most US mail, e-mail and walk-in traffic, the highest number of phone calls and performs the most Notary requests in City Hall. The Commissioner’s Office is the most affected office when the City’s overall population increases, as new growth always creates a new permanent office workload, and work is always generated when the City’s population turns over, which occurs a lot here.

Our goal is simple: to make the assessment and payment of taxes easy to understand, and as convenient to pay as possible, while still providing the same pleasant, high-quality, small-town, personal service that our businesses and residents have come to expect from the Commissioner’s Office. Five out of the eight current office employees live in the City, three are FCCPS graduates, so not only are we dedicated to our City and our jobs, but we’ve also grown up and live here too, and we’re careful stewards of your tax dollars!

Jody P. Acosta, Treasurer

I am very honored to be running for my 4^th term as your elected City Treasurer. Before I ran for office in 2014, I spent 8 years as the chief deputy treasurer. I have lived in Falls Church for the past 33 years; my husband was born and raised here, and my three children attended our wonderful City schools from kindergarten through high school graduation. I feel very blessed to have such deep roots in this community.

One of the questions I am most often asked by the public is, “What exactly does the Treasurer do?” I thought it might be helpful to provide some insight into that question here.

The primary functions of the Treasurer’s Office fall into five major categories:

Billing and collection of taxes
Billing and collection of other fees such as stormwater fees, community development fees, and the new solid waste fees (coming this December)
Receipting and processing of all City revenue including revenue from state and federal governments, state/federal agencies, Falls Church City schools, and all internal departments
Investments and safeguarding of City funds
Disbursement of funds

The treasurer also acts as the City’s chief banker, responsible for maintaining all the City and Schools’ bank accounts.

The treasurer works most closely with the finance department, the real estate assessor’s office and the commissioner of the revenue’s office. Many people get confused about the difference between the Commissioner of Revenue and the Treasurer. The short explanation is the commissioner assesses personal property (car) taxes and business taxes, and the treasurer bills and collects these taxes, along with real estate taxes (assessed by the City’s Real Estate Assessor).

The treasurer’s office also administers the City’s tax relief program for senior citizens and disabled veterans, issues vehicle decals, processes and issues permit parking applications for the City’s two (2) zone parking programs, and we issue approximately 400 dog licenses per year. The office processes over 400 state income tax payments for estimated tax payments each year for City residents on behalf of the Virginia Dept. of Taxation.

The treasurer’s office operates one of the busiest public counters in City Hall and consistently receives “Star Awards” and thank-yous from the community and co-workers within City Hall – a testament to our outstanding level of customer service.

I hold a Master Governmental Treasurer (MGT) certification from UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. I served as President of the Treasurer’s Association of Virginia in 2024-2025. I continue to represent Falls Church on the Board of Trustees for the VACo/VML Virginia Investment Pool – a statewide governmental trust fund for Virginia localities and other political sub-divisions with over $2 Billion in investments and I was recently re-elected to my 5th 2-year term on the Board.