Alexandria’s budget could raise spending by $18.7 million in 2013, though city officials said they won’t increase taxes to pay for it.
Even without a tax hike, however, city taxpayers are likely to pay about $52 more in 2013 thanks to rising property values.
The new $585.6 million budget isn’t set in stone — the city will hold a series of public meetings, starting Wednesday, before voting in May. Wednesday’s hearing will focus on capital improvement projects, which are expected to cost about $99 million next year. Those improvements include buying open space along the city’s historic waterfront, completing a new fire station and installing a computer-assisted dispatch system.
And even though next year’s budget is increasing, city officials had to cut spending by $6.8 million to balance it. That means reductions in many city departments and the elimination of 27 city jobs.
Most of the jobs targeted for elimination are already vacant, though eight city employees will have to be reassigned or laid off, said Morgan Routt, Alexandria’s acting budget director. The city will provide job counseling for employees who aren’t reassigned. Personnel costs are the largest part of the city’s budget, Routt said, and increased retirement costs, merit-based pay increases and rising health insurance premiums will force the city to increase personnel spending by $9.6 million in 2013.
“Pretty much all of the areas of government had some form of reduction,” Routt said. “In some cases, we’re talking about efficiency savings — we found a way to do something less expensively so there’s not an impact on the services provided to the public.”
Routt said the budget office and City Manager Rashad Young, who’s been in the job just two months, were constrained by a city council directive not to raise real estate taxes this year. That meant some cuts were necessary, although the city did pull in some additional revenue from rising real estate assessment rates.
The 2013 budget also includes a $5.8 million funding increase to Alexandria City Public Schools.
