Pay Increase Approved For Alexandria Government Employees

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A 1.5 percent pay rate increase for Alexandria city government employees was approved by City Council Tuesday as public safety unions have sounded the alarm about the city's pay competitiveness.

The city manager had proposed the pay rate increase and one-time bonuses. City Council amended the proposal to offer a one-time $3,000 bonus to all eligible full-time city and state-paid employees rather than the city manager's proposed $1,000. Part-time employees will receive a prorated bonus.

The proposal also included a two-grade increase for police captains and police lieutenants, a one-grade increase for deputy sheriff captains and deputy sheriff lieutenants, moving deputy fire chiefs and chief deputy sheriffs to the executive pay scale, and $3,000 bonuses for city-funded deputy sheriff positions for which the state didn't provide the bonus.

The components of the proposal had been in the original fiscal year 2021 budget proposal. However, those components were removed from the budget proposal due to COVID-19 impacting city revenue projections. City Manager Mark Jinks noted the uncertainty about city tax revenues when the employee pay rate increase and other items were removed from the fiscal year 2021 budget. The approved budget froze pay and hiring.

But with rebounds in revenues from sales tax and increasing car and real estate values, the city ended fiscal year 2021 with a surplus. In the fiscal year 2022 budget, merit increases were brought back, and a one-time bonus was paid in July.

"Given how revenues in FY 2021 recovered probably sooner than I think anyone would have anticipated, there was a desire to look at ways to bring some of those efforts back to try to recognize in some small part the work that our employees have done," said Wilson.

The proposal came about after police and firefighter unions have raised concerns over the last several months about staffing shortages as a result of pay competitiveness issues. The unions claim Alexandria's pay competitiveness on a regional level has been an issue for years, rather than something brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement released the week before City Council's vote argued that the city manager's pay increase proposal would not solve staffing issues.

The 1.5 percent pay rate increase will cost $2.8 million for the rest of fiscal year 2022 and $4.4 million annually in future years. The cost of upgrading pay grades for police captains, police lieutenants, deputy sheriff captains and deputy sheriff lieutenants will be $0.4 million for the rest of fiscal year 2022 and $0.6 million annually.

The one-time bonuses will have no annual cost. Jinks expects $3 million in revenue replacement funds (the city's second American Rescue Plan Act allocation) and about $2 million in general fund savings could cover the remaining cost of the $3,000 bonus City Council approved. The one-time $3,000 bonus for city-funded deputy sheriffs would cost $0.2 million.

The mayor noted the proposal wasn't an end-all for pay competitiveness concerns.

"This is not a proposal that resolves our pay competitiveness challenges across city government," said Wilson. "This does not do that, and I don't think anybody suggested that it does. We still have significant work to do not just this year but next year and years beyond to ensure that we have competitive salaries for our employees and competitive overall compensation."

Before the vote, Councilmember Amy Jackson argued that bonuses are not the key factor to attracting and retaining employees compared to pay.

"What I've seen for Alexandria is we lead by leaps and bounds among other neighboring jurisdictions and in the state when it comes to all these other wonderful awards and accolades that Alexandria receives," said Jackson. "But then we don't put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our actual public safety professionals and our staff. And it's sad and it's disheartening . And we have people leaving to go to other jurisdictions right now because they are offering signing bonuses and more money."

Jinks's proposal also asked for compensation to be a funding priority in the upcoming budget process. A new city manager will be in place during the next budget process, as Jinks is retiring.

"We know that the market has gotten more competitive all across the board," said Jinks. "We will have a pay study that has been coordinated by Fairfax County this year for the whole region, which is what we traditionally use to look at where we are with pay."

The city will also see an "extra cost" from the start of collective bargaining, according to Jinks. Collective bargaining will begin to impact the city budget in fiscal year 2024.

Discussions about employee compensation are expected to continue at the City Council retreat.