The five Democratic incumbent candidates for Alexandria City Council were re-elected Tuesday despite a hard-fought battle by Republicans over higher taxes and city spending they called unruly.
Based on preliminary returns, the five Republican candidates — Kenneth Foran, Craig Miller Jr., Bernard Schulz, Pat Troy and Townsend Van Fleet — received an average of half of the number of votes received by the Democrats. Turnout appeared to beless than 20 percent. Official results were not available.
“This satisfaction among Democrats with the tax issue is giving a lot of [Democrats] pause and they are not voting in the numbers they should,” said Mike Lane, Republican consultant, of the low turnout.
The sixth newly elected council member, Democrat Timothy Lovain, currently serves as chair of Alexandria’s Budget and Finance Committee.
“I’m confident [the council] will continue to be interested in fiscal restraints. People have definitely spoken on this and expressed their elaborate concerns,” said Lovain, who promised he would continue to press the issue with the council.
In a much closer race, eight newcomers were elected to the Alexandria School Board, joining the only incumbent, Charles Wilson.
“I will have to do my part to bring everybody up to speed about what has gone on in the past three years,” Wilson said. “Very often I hear people say, ‘What they are going to start?’ — but it is already under way.”
Across town, the Fairfax City Council race focused on development issues and taxes, but all six incumbent candidates were re-elected, based on preliminary results.
“They will go back to business as usual, which will mean our taxes will continue to skyrocket, our population density will increase and our traffic will continue to get worse,” said Allen Dobey, one of the losing candidates.
In the next two years, the council will focus on blending commercial and residential development with existing properties, as well as building the business tax base, said Joan Cross, an incumbent who won by 2,189 votes.
“We are trying very hard to put our businesses in a very good light. We realize our tax base is all tied up with the business community and without them, we would really have to impose taxes on the residential properties,” Cross said.
Alexandria Results
Mayor
William Euille
City Council
Ludwig Gaines
K. Rob Krupicka
Timothy Lovain
Andrew Macdonald
Redella “Del” Pepper
Paul Smedberg
School Board
District A
Sheryl Gorsuch
Scott Newsham
Eilen Cassidy Rivera
District B
Claire Eberwein
Yvonne Folkerts
Arthur Peabody
District C
Ronnie Campbell
Blanche Maness
Charles Wilson
Fairfax City
Mayor
Robert Frederick Lederer
City Council
Joan Cross
Jeffrey Greenfield
Gail Lyon
Gary Rasmussen
R. Scott Silverthorne
Patrice Winter
Results are unofficial.
