City Manager To Propose Fiscal Year 2023 Budget For Alexandria Tuesday

ALEXANDRIA, VA — City Manager James Parajon will present a proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 to City Council on Tuesday.

The budget presentation will happen virtually at 7 p.m. Residents may join via Zoom or dial in for listen-only mode. The Zoom webinar ID is 984 1077 1703 with passcode 314624, or the dial-in number is 301-715-8592. The meeting is virtual due to COVID-19.

The budget proposal will include the operating budget and Capital Improvement Program. Following the budget presentation, Parajon will answer questions submitted during the meeting by online viewers.

The real estate tax rate will be proposed as part of the budget. The real estate tax rate and property assessments will determine property owners' tax bill. This year, the city's overall tax base increased by 6.24 percent. The residential tax base overall increased by 6.91 percent, while the commercial property tax base overall increased by 5.34 percent. The last approved budget included a 2-cent real estate tax rate reduction.

Among the priorities sought in the budget is pay for public safety employees. Police and fire unions have raised concerns about Alexandria's lack of pay competitiveness on a regional level. The organizations believe staffing and retention issues originate from salaries that aren't competitive with other localities.

A 1.5 percent pay increase and bonuses for city government employees were approved by City Council in October. At the time, retiring City Manager Mark Jinks requested employee compensation be a priority in the upcoming budget.

The IAFF Local 2141 firefighters union noted the urgency of improving pay competitiveness in a tweet. The organization said three medics recently left Alexandria to work for neighboring localities.

"We are cautiously hopeful that the Mayor & Council will follow through on the public commitments they made to our members to make first responder pay a top priority in the budget," IAFF Local 2141 tweeted. "Though we are hopeful that this will be addressed -We want to ensure that the decision makers know there is still a large sense of urgency to address these issues NOW."

Other major components of the budget include the transfer to Alexandria City Public Schools and setting rates of taxes and fees such as the stormwater utility fee, solid waste fee and personal property tax.

Budget documents will be available after Feb. 15 at alexandriava.gov/Budget. Budget adoption by City Council is expected on May 4.