Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille is expected to tell residents in his State of the City speech tonight that Alexandria is strong but faces a tough economic environment this year.
Euille delivered the speech to the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce last week. Tonight, he is delivering the speech to residents at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial near the King Street Metro station. He is expected to take questions from the audience.
Alexandria City Manager James Hartmann already has introduced a $508.9 million spending plan for fiscal 2008, just a 2.25 percent increase over current spending levels. The City Council is currently in the middle of a review process before approval of a final budget in May.
Alexandria, like other jurisdictions in the region, was victimized by falling real estate tax revenues due to the softening real estatemarket. Gains in commercial real estate values have offset some of the residential revenue loss, but jurisdictions have proposed more modest spending plans across the board.
“This is going to be a difficult budget year,” Euille told the Chamber of Commerce. “The city manager’s budget is essentially flat for operations, although it addresses some of our city’s challenges. City departments have identified savings and efficiencies and reduced their budgets.”
Despite lower real estate tax revenues, Euille said the city’s economy is strong, with low unemployment and success in attracting tourist dollars. He added that the city needs to continue to work to attract businesses to reduce the city’s reliance on real estate tax revenues. He said his Economic Sustainability Work Group is continuing its work to bring new businesses to and keep old businesses in the city.
“Alexandria has sound assets that can be leveraged for greater benefit,” Euille said. “So far, our overall job growth has been relatively small compared to others in the region, but we have enormous potential.”
