Translate[Archived] Question # 19: Please provide any budget comments and feedback submitted online after the Proposed Budget presentation on February 18, 2020.
Question:
Please provide any budget comments and feedback submitted online after the Proposed Budget presentation on February 18, 2020.
Response: The following budget comments were submitted online from February 19, 2020 through March 4, 2020.
Comment #1
Lots of spending. Where are the budget cuts? Surely not every single expense is absolutely necessary
Comment #2
Call taxes what they include in reality: taxes AND fees. (...and this applies to the State level folk also.) For too many of recent decades the City Councils have fudged reality by claiming "no tax increases" for too many cycles when in reality increased assessments values & rates and an increasing number of specific item fees covered the Councils' projects & rising budgets. Figure folks know when there can be "no free lunch" if certain types and levels of service are needed. But, at least be honest with making one full TAX payment system cover all the bills. All the longstanding "double-speak" does is persuade most with a "half a brain" that we must be viewed as too stupid to notice. And that disrespect flows back upstream. I can also attest that in my small community where almost every major City service cost was proffered out with the original developer, we get minimal return on our tax & fee contributions. We are Cash Cows...and after 35 years, it’s become a bit irritating, both as an individual homeowner and as a longtime member of this small community's board of directors. Thank you.
Comment #3
I am an Alexandria resident who is lucky enough to live in a nice but by no means opulent single family home. Every year the property tax rate goes up substantially, far more than the inflation rate. I have a full time job and 40% of my after tax income goes to pay for property taxes in the city. This is not sustainable. Please consider that you are pricing people out of the city.
Comment #4
I am requesting that a year-round staffed composting station be placed on the City's West End. Currently, there is a very popular composting program during the summer months at the Ben Brenman Park Market but during the winter months, residents on the West End must drive to the Old town Market or to the Mount Vernon Market to take food waste. In my opinion, the carbon foot print does not add value to Alexandria as an eco-friendly city. The glass recycling on the West End is greatly appreciated. Should you include composting on the West End as well, residents will be most appreciative. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Comment #5
While reading about the proposed budget, I noted the following; “ $100,000 is proposed to be allocated for the creation of a due process universal representation access program for immigrants facing deportation.” There are better ways to spend the taxpayers money on. Education, road repair, health insurance for city employees, etc. Let those who made a choice to break laws pay their own legal costs.
Comment #6
I feel the 2-cent increase in the tax rate will be crippling to my hard working family in a year when property values have increase so much already. This tax would make living in Alexandria on a single household income nearly impossible and is excessive for a city that is booming in so many other ways. Please reconsider this proposal. It will place unnecessary harm on many working families that are just getting by.
Comment #7
I do NOT support the increase of the property tax rate given the large increase in property values this year. Our very small house increased 16% in value in just a single year! We can't afford the increased rate on top of that. Plus the increases in other fees--stormwater, refuge. You're pricing first time home buyers like us out of Old Town. We can't keep up.