Like many cities, Alexandria is facing a significant budget shortfall this year due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. That shortfall could be upwards of $41 million, according to city officials.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m., City Manager Mark Jinks will formally present a proposed budget to City Council at a special virtual meeting, which is open to the public. In addition, Jinks will be hosting a virtual presentation of his proposed Fiscal Year 2022 Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 18.
"The operating budget generally funds the ongoing costs of government (primarily personnel), while the capital budget funds one-time expenditures that provide the community with an asset (new schools, new roads, new playing fields, transit buses, etc.)," explained Mayor Justin Wilson in a newsletter earlier this month.
"The upcoming budget will be proposed and adopted against the backdrop of an extraordinary set of constraints and uncertainty," Wilson wrote. The inital projections for revenue loss due to the pandemic were not as severe as Alexandria officials feared, but the pandemic is staying with us longer than anyone wanted it to.
"When the pandemic hit last year, we had the 'benefit' of having already completed real estate property assessments for calendar year 2020. Given the vast majority of our City revenues are based on residential and commercial real estate taxes, the broad impact of the pandemic had not yet hit the City's budget," according to Wilson. (Real estate assessments were mailed out to property owners last week.)
Unlike the federal government, which can run massive deficits, state and local governments do not have that ability and budgets must be balanced. The difference means that Alexandria will either need to look at ways to reduce spending or increase taxes, or both.
"This will be a challenging environment to adopt a budget within. With our residential taxpayers already paying more this year due to the appreciation in our residential tax base, I believe we should again work to avoid a rate increase while protecting the core services our residents depend on," Wilson said.
Visit alexandriava.gov/Budget for more information, including proposed budget documents (available after Feb. 16) and a detailed schedule of planned work sessions and public hearings. The City Council will adopt the budget on May 5.
