At the end of February, the City Manager presented his proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024) and his proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2024 through Fiscal Year 2033. Since that time, the City Council has been actively engaged in our annual budget process, which will culminate in adoption of our budget on May 3rd.

We have held several budget work sessions to learn and pose questions about each portion of the budget. You can view these work sessions on line.

We would like your input on the proposed budget! This month there will be two public hearings available to provide input on the budget, first on Saturday April 15th beginning at 9:30 AM. On Tuesday April 25th at 5:30 PM, we will be holding a public hearing specifically on the proposed real estate tax rate. If you wish to address the Council on the proposed budget, you can sign-up to speak online. You can address the Council in-person at City Hall or virtually on zoom.

Additionally, we have a form that will collect written input to the City Council on the budget.

In November, the City Manager presented his initial outlook for the upcoming budget at our annual Council retreat. The current fiscal year's budget was built around some of the healthiest revenue growth we had seen in over fifteen years. For next year, that revenue growth has been cut in half as growth in the real estate tax base has slowed.

The authorized work force in City Government is now at 2,765 FTEs, little above where we were nearly 15 years ago. That's in spite of the fact that our population has grown significantly during that period of time. 

In addition to the budget documents linked above, all questions asked by members of Council during the process are posted, along with answers, online for the public to review. Any request to change the proposed budget must be initiated with a budget question, so it is a good window into the thoughts of your elected representatives. 

Let me know your thoughts!

On June 30^th 2010, the Alexandria Fire Department had an authorized workforce of 252 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. With approval of the City Manager's proposed budget, the authorized workforce will be 347.50 employees. No other City department has experienced that type of workforce growth during that period.

NFPA is an organization that promulgates standards and codes for usage by local governments. In 2001, the NFPA published a new standard that detailed the minimum staffing standards for fire apparatus. Alexandria was the only jurisdiction in our region that maintained less than 4 person minimum staffing.  

In the Fall of 2014, the City's then-Fire Chief came to the Council with an entirely new model for cross-trained firefighter-medics. This is the model in use in all of our neighboring jurisdictions. 

In January, the City Council voted to commit funding to support the second public-sector collective-bargaining agreement in Virginia since the 1970s. This new agreement, between the City and International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2141, represents the firefighters, paramedics and fire marshals of the Alexandria Fire Department.

In 2012, 2017 and 2018, the City successfully (last year the City was unsuccessful) sought grants under the "Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response" (SAFER) program. This Federal grant program provides support to local governments to expand these critical public safety services.

Last month, the Council unanimously voted to apply for another SAFER grant for this year. This grant is proposed to fund the addition of 25 FTE, which provide the relief necessary to reduce the work week as envisioned in our new collective bargaining agreement.

For much of the 20th Century, wide swaths of Alexandria housing was off-limits to Alexandrians that were not white. That reality was enforced by a patchwork of ordinances, restrictive covenants, intimidation and lending practices that served to effectively segregate our City for generations. While de jure policies that explicitly enforced segregation were made illegal long ago, the legacy of these policies live on today. In fact, in recent years, Alexandria has grown MORE segregated. These realties are detailed in the Draft Regional Fair Housing Plan that I wrote about a few months ago.

Last month, the City kicked-off an acceleration of the Zoning for Housing work program. For the rest of this year, we will engage with residents to develop a package of specific land-use proposals in these areas:

This is the most ambitious housing effort in the City's history and we want the voice of residents from throughout our community involved in this process. You can watch the full kick-off event online, including presentations from Richard and Leah Rothstein, the authors of the forthcoming book, "Just Action,' a follow-up to Richard Rothstein's seminal tome "The Color of Law."

Somewhat inexplicably, local governments have been reluctant to use the single most effective tool to increase the supply of affordable housing: build more housing. The reluctance of local governments has been even more surprising giving that a supply-based approach has been the policy of the last three Presidential administrations, two Democrats and one Republican. It's the policy of our current Republican Governor. It has been the approach of the Sierra Club and the National Association of Home Builders. It has been the approach of the Brookings Institute, the Hoover Institution and even the Cato Institute.

In September of 2019, the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) unanimously adopted new regional housing creation targets. This was the first-ever regional commitment to accelerate the development of housing supply as a means to address our affordability crisis. 

In March of 2020, the City Council became the third jurisdiction in the region to endorse these targets. 

In 2013, while adopting our Housing Master Plan, City Council had set an ambitious goal to create or preserve 2,000 affordable units by 2025. We are on track to meet this goal.  

Over the last three years, the City has achieved the preservation or creation of just about 1,000 units of committed affordable housing.

The housing non-profit HAND has begun an annual report to measure the work that each jurisdiction in the region is doing to achieve our commitments. The HAND "Housing Indication Tool" report shows that Alexandria has made significant progress, with more work to do.

There will be many opportunities for engagement throughout this process, including another public meeting this month. The City will continue to seek creative partnerships, new land-use tools and innovative financing to preserve and create affordability in our City. I am pleased to see these efforts come to fruition.

Last year, when City Council approved our current budget, an amendment I proposed was included to expand the City's collection of food waste. My proposal funded both an expansion of our existing Farmers' Market Composting program and a new curbside collection program.

Last month, we launched the new curbside collection program. Under this new program, up to 2,000 residents who receive City trash and recycling collection can register for collection to begin this spring. These residents will receive a free start-up kit and 6 months of service for free. The City has contracted with Compost Crew to provide this service.

Earlier this year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it has awarded the City additional funding to supplement local funds in expanding this new program. These funds, drawn from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) are a portion of $9.4 million distributed nationally to support compost and food waste reduction projects.

During the 2020 General Assembly session, new legislation was enacted that authorized local governments to begin using photo speed monitoring equipment. This new authority allows the cameras in school crossing zones and highway work zones and authorizes fines of up to $100 for an infraction.

Last month, the City Council unanimously approved the development of Blocks A and Q of the previous Landmark Mall site.

This approval is for the anchor of the Landmark redevelopment, a new Inova Alexandria Hospital, a cancer center, a specialty care center, a parking garage and central plaza. This portion of development will constitute over 1 million square feet of new development.

Last year, Foulger-Pratt, the private development partner spearheading the redevelopment of Landmark Mall began demolition on the existing site.

Construction activity will be beginning shortly, under the aggressive schedule they have presented to the community.

In 2021, the Alexandria Industrial Development Authority (IDA) closed on the purchase of an 11-acre parcel on the site of the former Landrmark Mall. The purchase of this property was immediately followed by IDA's issuance of a 99-year ground lease of the property to Inova Health System.

Long sought, this arrangement was named by the Washington Business Journal as the 2020 Real Estate Deal of the Year.

Days before Christmas 2020, the City joined with a few partners, some familiar and some new, to announce the future of the Landmark Mall site. The new development plan will move Inova Alexandria Hospital from its home for the past 60 years on Seminary Road to a new modern facility on the site of Landmark Mall.

The location, one of the largest sites inside the Beltway awaiting redevelopment, will see a billion dollars of new investment, including a new Level II trauma center, medical office buildings, residential, retail, parks, a new fire station replacing Fire Station 208, new committed affordable housing and a new transit hub anchoring the City's new bus rapid transit network, DASH and Metrobus.

Over a year ago, the City Council unanimously approved a master plan amendment and rezoning of the site of the existing Inova Alexandria Hospital. This land-use decision was the first legislative action required to bring this plan to reality.

Conquering those obstacles requires a unique partnership and financial arrangement. A local firm, Foulger-Pratt is leading a joint venture in partnership with Howard Hughes Corporation, the current owner of the mall site, and Seritage Growth Properties, the owner of the Sears site. They were able to bring Inova Health System into the arrangement to anchor this redevelopment.

Alexandria remains a safe community. In 2021, we saw an overall decrease in Part 1 crime, as our community recovered from the pandemic. This recovery came as the City was being served with the fewest number of police officers on the streets of our City in recent memory. This progress was the testament to the hard work of the Alexandria Police Department and the vigilance of our residents.

Last month, the City Council received our 2022 crime statistics. This report contained good news and bad news for our community.

We have continued to see mental health and behavioral health incidents driving emergency response. The City's ACORP program, a co-response program pairing a sworn police officer with a mental health practitioner, has seen considerable success. Over the past year, ACORP handled 2,387 behavioral health calls. Only 2% of 911 calls that ACORP responded to resulted in an arrest and 17% resulted in an involuntary transport to a hospital. Nearly two-thirds of the ACORP calls were referred to community services.

The increases in incidents of crime in 2022 are concerning, but the City's violent crime remains 25% lower than we were 15 years ago. Our property crime remains 7% lower than 15 years ago. Yet, we cannot tolerate any crime in our community and this report compels further action.

Almost a decade ago, I proposed that the City develop a broadband plan to help bring true competition to Alexandria's broadband market.

Last month, Ting activated their first customers in the City of Alexandria. This activation brings fiber internet to the home for Alexandrians and joins the battle in competition for these critical services.

Separate from this announcement, Verizon began conversion of their existing copper infrastructure to fiber optic cable in some areas of our City. With the completion of this work, they are now offering Verizon FIOS internet service along with their landline phone service. They are now accepting orders as well.

A year ago, the City announced that we had received four proposals from vendors seeking to offer competitive broadband services for our community.

In March of last year, the City Council unanimously advanced franchise agreements with two of the firms, Ting and Lumos. While we issued franchise agreements to both companies, ultimately Ting was the only company that decided to move ahead at this time. 

A year and a half ago, City Council gathered on Eisenhower Avenue to have a formal groundbreaking for the build of our municipal fiber network. Construction is now occurring at numerous locations in the City.

Just over two years ago, the City issued a revised solicitation to select a vendor to construct a municipal fiber network to serve City and School facilities around our community. A contract was awarded to Jones Utilities Construction, Inc to perform this work.