[Archived] Alexandria City Manager’s Proposed FY 1998 Budget Provides Continued Investment In Economic and Business Development Initiatives, Full Funding of School Board’s Budget, Expanded Recreation Programs, and Improvements in Employee Compensation while Maintaining Current Tax Rates; Six-year Capital Budget Includes Funding for New Elementary School, New Main Library


News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:	Tuesday, March 18, 1997
Contact:	Tom Brannan, Assistant City Manager, (703) 838-4300 (W), (703) 701-2548 (Pager)

Alexandria City Manager’s Proposed FY 1998 Budget Provides Continued Investment In Economic and Business Development Initiatives, Full Funding of School Board’s Budget, Expanded Recreation Programs, and Improvements in Employee Compensation while Maintaining Current Tax Rates; Six-year Capital Budget Includes Funding for New Elementary School, New Main Library

Economic Development Initiatives • Capital Projects
Expanded Recreational Opportunities
Real Property Tax Base, Assessments and Fees
Alexandria City Manager Vola Lawson today presented City Council with a $264.8 Proposed General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 1998 (July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998) and a six-year, $123.8 million Capital Program that includes funding for new school and library facilities in the City’s West End. The $264.8 million Proposed General Fund Budget includes $178.9 million for City programs and services, up 4.1% over the current year, and an appropriation of $85.9 million to fully fund the Alexandria School Board’s Adopted Operating Budget, up 8.3% over the current appropriation for the Schools.

The City Manager’s Proposed Budget maintains tax rates at their current level. At its annual planning retreat in September 1996, City Council requested the City Manager to present a budget for FY 1998 that required no tax rate increase.

"While holding tax rates steady, the proposed budget continues our emphasis on economic development efforts in all areas of the City; reaffirms our commitment to education through full funding of the Alexandria School Board’s Adopted Operating and Capital Budgets; and maintains our quality City services," said City Manager Vola Lawson. "The proposed budget also enhances recreational opportunities, and it increases our investment in capital facilities and information technology, which is part of the vital infrastructure of our local government operations," she said.

"Our employees play a vital role in making this the excellent and responsive government that it is, and if we are to continue attracting and retaining high caliber employees, the City must provide competitive salaries," said Mrs. Lawson. "The proposed budget includes enough money for a 3 percent merit increase for City employees based on performance, a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment, and funding to make City employees in longevity eligible for a 3 percent merit increase," she added.

In June, City Council commissioned the Watson Wyatt consultant report on pay practices and compensation, which documented that the City has fallen behind our neighboring jurisdictions in compensation increases for Alexandria City employees. To address pay issues, City Council established two separate committees of Council that are continuing to meet and that will present their recommendations to Council before its adoption of the FY 1998 budget on May 1. There is up to $1.8 million in the proposed budget that could be used, in conjunction with recommendations of the two Council committees, for employee compensation as City Council sees fit.

The proposed budget includes a net increase of eight full-time City employees, primarily to support the City’s Information Technology Plan. Total full-time employment authorized for FY 1998 under the City Manager’s Proposed Budget is 2,074.

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Economic Development Initiatives
The City Manager’s Proposed General Fund Operating Budget recommends more than $1.3 million in direct operating support for economic development, including $436,432 for the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Inc., and $380,413 for the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association, Inc.; $100,000 for the new Potomac West business assistance loan program; $100,000 for the Marketing Fund; and continued support for the Eisenhower Avenue Partnership, the Potomac West Alliance, and the Ad Hoc Task Force on Information and Communications Technologies’ business technology promotion initiatives.

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Capital Projects
The City Manager’s $123.8 million Proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 1998-2003 represents an increase of approximately $17.7 million, or 16.7 percent, compared to the current six-year CIP. Major CIP programs include:

$32.3 million for full funding of the Schools’ six-year capital budget, including $8.4 million to design and construct a new 600-student elementary school in the West End and $1.5 million for the remaining capital portion of the School’s Technology Plan, which aims to upgrade and integrate the latest communications and networking technologies into every classroom in the School system by 1999. The Schools’ $32.3 million capital budget represents an increase of $11.7 million, or 57.1 percent, compared to the Schools’ current six-year program and marks the beginning of the School Board’s long-range planning efforts for the facility needs of the school system. It includes $8.4 million to design and construct a new elementary school for approximately 600 students and $1.5 million for the capital portion of the Schools’ Technology Plan that calls for all school facilities to be wired for communications and networking technologies by FY 2000.

$21.9 million to implement the City’s six-year Information Technology Plan that provides citizens with improved, 24-hour-a-day access to government services through the City’s World Wide Web site and Internet e-mail; replaces aging Police and Fire dispatch systems with an integrated system; upgrades the public safety radio system to digital technology; replaces the Criminal Justice Information System with a more integrated and comprehensive local area network-based system; and implements the City’s institutional network (I-Net) being constructed by Jones Communications as part of a landmark cable franchise agreement linking all City government and school facilities.

$11.9 million to construct, equip, and furnish the City’s new Main Library in the West End by 1999.

$6 million, phased over three years, to provide for an increase in essential public parking at the redeveloped Queen and Lee Streets site in Old Town.
This six-year program of capital improvements will be financed through the issuance of new general obligation bonds in FY 1999, FY 2001, and FY 2003, and through pay-as-you-go General Fund appropriations for capital projects. Alexandria is one of 18 cities in the United States whose bonds are rated triple-A by both of Wall Street’s major credit rating agencies. The triple-A bond ratings from Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service enable the City to borrow at the most favorable rates. The City’s projected debt per capita by the end of FY 1998 will be $258, the lowest of the region’s four triple-A rated jurisdictions (Arlington County, $1,842; Fairfax County, $1,389; and Montgomery County, Md., $1,413).

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Expanded Recreational Opportunities
The proposed budget also recommends an increase of $255,000 to expand the hours of operation and improve program offerings and activities for seniors, adults, teens, and youth at two of the City’s most heavily used neighborhood recreation centers -- the Nannie J. Lee Recreation Center, where renovations will be completed in March, and the Mt. Vernon Recreation Center, where renovations are scheduled for completion this fall.

The Capital Improvement Program also includes over $3.6 million for already approved parkland and playing field improvements at Cameron Station, which are to be funded primarily by developer contributions for this project, and funding to complete the renovations of heavily used neighborhood recreation centers, including the William Ramsay and Durant Centers. Improvements in City and Schools Employee Compensation

Also included in the proposed budget is funding for improvements in City and Schools employee compensation. The proposed budget provides funding for a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment and a 3 percent merit increase for all City employees based on performance, and includes funding to make City employees in longevity eligible for a 3 percent merit increase. There is an additional $2.3 million in the proposed appropriation to the Schools to fund compensation increases for Schools employees comparable to those proposed for City employees.

The Watson Wyatt report on City employee pay practices and compensation, commissioned by City Council last June and presented to Council in documented that the City has fallen behind its neighboring jurisdictions in compensation increases awarded to City employees. The report indicated that over the past five years, total aggregate merit (in-step) increases and cost-of-living adjustments awarded to Alexandria City employees were below the average of the two largest counties (Arlington and Fairfax Counties) by 1.05 percent, and the total increases were below the average of the two cities (Fairfax City and Falls Church) by 12.5 percent.

Two City Council committees are currently reviewing City employee compensation issues raised by the consultant survey and by the Alexandria Sheriff’s request for pay parity with law enforcement. Both committees have been asked to report back to Council with recommendations before Council adopts the FY 1998 Budget on May 1. There is up to $1.8 million in the proposed operating budget that could be used, in conjunction with recommendations of the two Council committees, for employee compensation as City Council sees fit.

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Real Property Tax Base, Assessments and Fees
The FY 1998 Proposed Budget is only the second budget since 1991 in which the assessed values of both the residential and commercial sectors of the City’s real property tax base have shown increases. Between 1991 and 1996, the City’s tax base has declined by $1.2 billion. Continuous improvements in productivity and in cost-effective service delivery and the use of pay-as-you-go financing of capital projects has enabled the City to hold average annual increases in actual expenditures over the past four years to 4 percent, the lowest of the major Northern Virginia jurisdictions.

The overall assessed value of all real property in the City increased by 2 percent, or $221.2 million, from $10.9 billion in 1996 to $11.2 billion in 1997. Nearly two-thirds of this increase (61.3 percent or $135.5 million) is the result of new construction plus the change in the taxable status of properties, primarily land at Cameron Station, formerly a U.S. Army facility.

Approximately $101.6 million of the overall increase in assessed value is due to new residential construction ($52.4 million) and new commercial construction ($49.2 million).

The assessed value of existing commercial real property in the City increased by 1.3 percent in 1997.

The average assessed value of an existing home in the City increased by less than one-half of one percent (0.48 percent), from $177,148 in 1996 to $177,998 in 1997. Based on the current real property tax rate of $1.07 per $100 of assessed value, the average homeowner in Alexandria (living in a home assessed at $177,998) will pay an annual real property tax of $1,905, up less than $10 over last year.

The proposed budget calls for increasing the annual residential trash collection and disposal fee by $2, from $158 per household per year to $160.

All other tax rates and fees are maintained at their current levels.

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