For three months, a committee has considered changes to Alexandria’s city election cycle in hopes of reducing costs and improving voter turnout. With its recommendation due to the mayor at the end of June, the group will hold a public hearing Saturday.
The committee is weighing the ramifications of moving elections from May to November, extending council and school board terms from three to four years, staggering terms, raising pay and electing council members by districts.
Mayor William Euille appointed the group to review local elections in February. Euille, a Democrat, was re-elected in an unopposed May 2006 race with not quite 20 percent of voters casting ballots.
May elections cost $50,000 to $60,000 every three years. November turnout is usually two or three times more than the May turnout, according to the committee’s issue paper.
Though turnout is lower, May voters are more engaged in local issues, some committee members suggested at a meeting in early May. Changing city elections to November could simply fill ballot boxes with party-line votes, some members said.
Each change comes with tradeoffs: Electing members by district could make iteasier for Alexandrians to communicate with the council. The change could also lead to council members look after their district at the expense of the whole city.
Euille also asked the committee to consider raising the council’s and school board’s pay, which he said in February lagged behind that of other area jurisdictions. Since 2003, the mayor has earned $30,500 annually, while council members receive $27,500, according to the committee document. The Arlington County Board chair receives $53,900 and the other board members earns $49,000. In Fairfax County, supervisors receive $75,000.
The election work group is expected to report its recommendations to the mayor at the end of June.
The public hearing is 10 a.m. Saturday at City Hall, 301 King St.
