Translate[Archived] Question #25: Please provide any budget comments and feedback submitted online.
Question:
Please provide any budget comments and feedback submitted online. (Routt, Director of Management & Budget)
Response:
The following comment was received through the online feedback tool. This is the only response received as of March 3, 2019. Responses will be compiled on a weekly basis (as new comments are submitted) and posted as a budget question.
Comment # 1
Feedback: First, the City Council needs to address the elephant in the room...the impact of the restrictions/$10,000 cap on state/local taxes on Federal income taxes to city residents on a fixed retirement. Currently, between real estate taxes, personal property taxes, refuge and recycling fee, stormwater runoff fees (aka government speak for creative taxation) equal 75% of the $10,000 deduction cap for me. I am retired and on a fixed income that is quickly being consumed by Alexandria and Virginia taxes that are out of balance with services and value added intangibles for living in Alexandria.
Second, we live in The Beauregard Area Redevelopment zone and the abject failure of this project to materialize other than a ~300 unit high end apartment complex at 2000 North Beauregard is unacceptable and begs the question as to how much money was lost. The West End has suffered from traffic congestion along the Beauregard-Seminary Rd thoroughfare due in large part to poor traffic management design related to the new HOV/HOT on/off ramp on Seminary Rd and I-395. Approving a 300-unit upscale apartment complex adds ~600 +\- vehicles into an already congested traffic situation. I see no indication of any budget item to address the traffic congestion.
Third, we live in a private community under Virginia's HOA law. Our streets, sidewalks are private and not serviced or maintained by the City of Alexandria, yet we pay the same rate for our real estate taxes. Also due to a quirk of Virginia law ACPD is prohibited from patrolling our streets with the exception of responding to specific incident response requests. We pay a HOA fees to cover the operations and maintenance of our streets and common area including sidewalk snow removal of public sidewalks bordering our private community per Alexandria Ordnance. Why is there no credit, offset, etc to our real estate tax bill for this situation?
Note: Mr. Jinks statement that there is no tax increase required for this proposed budget is inaccurate at best and a misrepresentation at worst when he states that real estate values increased such that the average residential tax bill will increase by $118/year. Since the City controls the assessments, establishes the tax rate, and the budget any net increase in real estate tax bills is a tax increase.