Residents in the City of Alexandria have a lot of opportunities to weigh in on the city manager’s proposed budget between now and budget adoption day on May 4.
New City Manager Jim Parajon presented the Alexandria City Council with a proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 General Fund Operating Budget of $829.9 million. That’s an increase of 7.7% over the current year, with funds coming from a variety of places, including increased real estate assessments. (The rate will remain at $1.11 per $100,000 in assessed valuation for residential real estate, but property valuations have increased significantly in the past year.)
The proposed budget includes fully funding Alexandria City Public Schools, including raises for teachers and staff. The budget also includes investments for stormwater management infrastructure to help control increasing flooding and educational facilities. In addition, “The FY 2023 Proposed Budget includes funding totaling $12,000,000 for market rate adjustments to pay scales with a 6% increase to sworn Fire pay scales, a 5% increase to sworn Police and Sheriff pay scales, and a 4% increase to General Schedule pay scales to better align City employee salaries with the regional market and recruit and retain a high-quality workforce,” according to city documents.
Details about the budget, including presentations, charts and additional explanation, are available through www.alexandriava.gov/Budget.
Meetings are at 7 p.m. at City Hall and simultaneously online, unless otherwise noted. Residents may also submit comments electronically here.
- Budget Work Session #2 – City Council/School Board, March 2 (at ACPS headquarters)
- Budget Work Session #3 - Healthy and Thriving, March 23
- Budget Work Session #4 - Livable, Green, and Prospering, March 30
- Budget Work Session #5 - Safe and Secure and Just, April 6
- Budget Work Session #6 - Accountable and BFAAC, April 20
- Budget Work Session #7 - Topic TBD, April 23 - 9:30 AM
- City Council Tax Rate Public Hearing, April 26
- Budget Work Session: Preliminary Add/Delete, May 2
- Budget Work Session: Final Add/Delete Discussion and Budget Adoption/Tax Rate Adoption, May 4
