More Speed Cameras, Other Budget Amendments Up For Alexandria Council Final Approval

ALEXANDRIA, VA — City Council will vote on the final budget Wednesday with some add/delete session additions but the same proposed real estate tax rate.

The city's budget approval will include the fiscal year 2024 operating budget starting July 1, 2023 and 10-year Capital Improvement Program. That budget has changed since the city manager proposed a budget in February.

Last Tuesday, City Council made a potential agreement on budget amendments during an add/delete budget work session. That came after City Manager James Parajon provided an updated revenue forecast showing projected revenues increased by $2.2 million since the February budget proposal. That's largely due to "better than expected dining tax and hotel tax projections," according to Mayor Justin Wilson's newsletter.

What hasn't changed in the budget proposal is the real estate tax rate of $1.11 per $100 of assessed value. The city manager's budget proposed keeping the rate the same, and that remains the same going into Wednesday's final budget approval.

"The City Council will be adopting the City Manager's proposal on Wednesday," the mayor said in his newsletter. "This will be the 7th straight year that the rate has remained the same or decreased."

Even with the tax rate remaining the same, property owners with higher property assessment values will see tax bills go up. The average single-family homeowner would see a $490 increase in their real estate tax bill, according to Wilson's newsletter. Condo owners would have an average $101 increase.

The city's stormwater utility fee is also proposed to increase as the city continues to accelerate stormwater capacity projects and continue Chesapeake Bay water quality mandates. The stormwater utility rate for a small single-family home would increase from $294 to $308.70. According to the mayor's newsletter, the proposed annual fee would be $86.44 for condos, $129.65 for townhomes, $308.70 for small single-family homes and $515.53 for large single-family homes.

The personal property tax rate on vehicles is proposed to remain $5.33 per $100 of vehicle’s value. However, a 90 percent assessment ratio for vehicle values is recommended due to vehicle values increasing due to pandemic-related supply issues. Vehicles would be assessed at 90 percent of value, which means a vehicle's actual market value would be discounted by 10 percent for tax bills.

According to the city, 87 percent of vehicles had higher assessed values in tax year 2022 with an average value increase of 26. Less vehicles have higher values in tax year 2023 — 44 percent — with an average value increase of 14.09 percent.

In the last budget, a 78.8 percent assessment tax ratio was used for tax year 2022. In addition, City Council shifted the state's Personal Property Tax Relief funds to lower-value cars, giving a 100 percent car tax subsidy to vehicles priced at $5,000 or less.

Budget Amendments from Add/Delete Session

Various funding priorities resulted from City Council's add/delete session last Tuesday. Among the larger budget amendments are $490,000 for speed monitoring devices in five more school crossing zones, $250,000 for a housing voucher program study, $120,000 to improve DASH Bus's 33 line service on Sundays, a $170,000 increase for eviction prevention, over $214,000 for a youth summer employment program, $147,208 to keep an economic recovery manager at the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, and $110,000 in contingent funds for an immigrant affairs and refugee resettlement coordinator.

One notable delete from the budget was a $657,629 budget decrease for the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center, which Alexandria, Arlington County and City of Falls Church share. City Council instead seeks to put the funds into contingent reserves and directed the city manager to return with proposals on "optimizing" capacity, looking at available capacity for alternative uses and looking into new regional partnerships for the use of the facility and staffing.

Some of the smaller budget amendments are $70,000 for maintaining security services at libraries, $50,000 for child care services at city meetings, $79,250 for expedited bed finding for people experiencing a mental health crisis, $78,000 for increased funding for Visit Alexandria advertising and $20,000 in contingent funds to explore an incentive program for private surveillance cameras.

A similar private surveillance camera program was just approved in Prince George's County, Maryland. City Council directed city staff to explore how the city could promote cameras even without incentives and which programs could benefit from more support in the Alexandria Police Department.

Residents can find questions and answers to different budget priorities on the city's website.

Wednesday's budget adoption is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. For more information about the budget process, visit www.alexandriava.gov/Budget.