[Archived] City of Alexandria Launches Online Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt

For Immediate Release: June 19, 2015

The City of Alexandria has launched a new online Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt to help real estate taxpayers better understand what percentage of revenue funds each programmatic area of City spending.

“This new online tool provides one more way for taxpayers and all Alexandria stakeholders to learn about how City government raises and spends money to help meet community needs,” said City Manager Mark B. Jinks.  “Since most of the City’s revenue comes from the real estate tax, it’s important to understand how these funds in particular are invested to provide quality public schools; a safe, caring, thriving, and livable community; quality infrastructure; and accountable government.”

The Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt allows a taxpayer to enter the assessed value of his or her property and see a breakdown of the percentage of the corresponding real estate tax payment that funds each area of spending in a given fiscal year.  For example, a $500,000 home would have a corresponding real estate tax bill of $5,215 in Fiscal Year 2015, and the Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt would show that $1,770 of the bill (34%) went to fund the Alexandria City Public Schools and $1,106 (21%) went to services like public safety and courts.

The online tool also shows an average receipt representing the median property value for each fiscal year, and includes a link to locate the assessed value for any property in the City. Alexandria’s Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt was modeled on the Federal Taxpayer Receipt, which can be seen at www.whitehouse.gov/2014-taxreceipt.

The Receipt focuses on the real estate tax, which contributes 58.9% of the revenue for the City’s General Fund.  The Receipt does not reflect contributions from other local taxes such as the personal property tax, sales tax, and business license tax (26.3%); federal and state funding (8.6%); or other non-tax revenue such as permits, fines, and fees (6.2%).

The online tool will be updated annually in conjunction with the fiscal year budget approval, and currently includes data for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015.  The Real Estate Taxpayer Receipt is available on the City’s website at www.alexandriava.gov/Budget, under “Fiscal Year 2016 Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program.” 

For media inquiries, please contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.

###

This news release is available at www.alexandriava.gov/85544.