In This Edition

The polls will be open 6 AM to 7 PM. 

Absentee voting is already being conducted both in-person and by mail. 

The sample ballot is available for review. 

The Republicans selected their nominees for all three statewide offices at a convention. 

Before they leave, our community pitches in to ensure they have a safe party to celebrate. 

The 25th Annual All Night Grad Party takes place on June 15th and can certainly use your help! Click the link to assist. 

30% of those revenues will be distributed directly to the member localities and 70% spent on regional projects. The Alexandria Transportation Commission will be conducting a Public Hearing on Wednesday June 5th at 7 PM in City Hall. 

The Public Hearing will be to receive comment on the proposed list of projects. Make sure your voice is heard! 

Over the past few months, I have attempted to keep you updated on the FY 2014 budget process, which began for this Council immediately upon taking the oath in January. 

Last month, on the 6th of May, that process culminated in the adoption of our FY 2014 Operating Budget and the FY 2014 - FY 2023 Capital Improvement Program (CIP). While the final approved budgets are not available online just yet, the list of changes made by the City Council are available. Please check them out. 

I have been a part of three budgets as a member of the City Council, and each one has had things I liked and things I disliked. In the end, I have decided that on balance each has done more good than bad, and I supported them. This year was certainly such a mix. 

As I wrote a few months ago, our current projections are for a deficit of $9 - $20 million in next year's operating budget (starting July 1, 2014), and $14 - $35 million in the following year (starting July 1, 2015). With a negative outlook, my goal for this budget was to hold the line on operating spending and make investments in capital. Done together, I believe that would best position the City to face stalling growth. 

While not perfect, I believe this budget accomplished those twin goals. 

Most importantly, the adopted budget deals with the immediate operating and capital impacts of growing student enrollment. While this is a challenge that we will continue to face over the next decade, the Council did make a down-payment on these significant capital needs--adding classroom capacity throughout our City. 

The adopted budget included just under a million dollars of new resources to ensure that our children begin kindergarten with a high-quality pre-school experience. 

The adopted budget included new resources to address pay-scale issues with our sworn public safety employees. 

The adopted budget commits additional resources to our Capital Improvement Program (CIP)--providing $1.23 billion of capital investment over the next decade. That investment is significant and will be a lasting legacy for our community. 

While the approved Capital Improvement Program focused on many different areas, one specific area addressed by this approved budget is our City's pools. With decades of under-investment our City was systematically closing our aquatics resources. This budget provides a future for municipal aquatics in partnership with private fundraising. 

After years of discussion and debate, I'm proud that on Tuesday the Council unanimously approved an ordinance to require taxicabs in Alexandria to accept credit cards as a form of payment.

This is a very basic customer service improvement that will add convenience for residents and visitors alike. 

The ordinance takes effect on September 1st. 

In 2003, faced with rapid development activity that was diminishing our City's available open space, former Councilman David Speck proposed the creation of an Open Space Fund, and suggested the dedication of 1 penny of the real estate tax rate to be transferred to that fund each year to fund the acquisition and preservation of open space in our community. 

A few years later, in 2005, faced with the rapid loss of housing that was affordable to middle and low income residents, former Councilwoman Joyce Woodson and former Councilman Ludwig Gaines proposed the dedication of an additional penny of the real estate tax rate to fund the creation and preservation of affordable housing. 

The City Council in 2005 created this new dedication. Since that time, those funds have enabled the City to work with private and public partners to create new housing, and preserve threatened housing that has remained affordable to middle and low income residents struggling to remain in our City. 

During the budget downturn, both of the dedications were reduced to fund little more than the debt service on open space acquisitions and affordable housing development that had already occurred. In the proposed budget this year, the dedication for affordable housing remained at 0.6 cents, and the dedication for open space remained at 0.3% of real estate tax revenue (the open space dedication was changed to a percentage of revenue a few years ago). 

Over the past decade, the Council's appointed Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee has repeatedly opposed the practice of dedicating real estate revenue in their annual report to the Council, citing the limitations such a practice can have on the flexibility in the City's budget process. 

While I have strongly supported initiatives to preserve and create open space, and I have strongly supported initiatives to preserve and create affordable housing, I share the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee's opposition to the dedication of real estate tax revenue. 

In my view, such a dedication subverts our annual budget process and places one type of expenditure (in this case open space and affordable housing) above all others. 

If Council supports funding open space acquisition or affordable housing development, it has an annual opportunity to budget money to do so. As it is, recent spending for these priorities has mostly consisted of continuing to pay for past purchases. 

The challenge of advance dedication is particularly troublesome in the current environment we are in; an environment that will necessitate cuts to City spending each year. With dedicated real estate tax revenue, our City Manager will be forced to proposed a budget with potentially devastating cuts to essential services, while maintaining the dedicated funds for affordable housing and open space. That choice may not be in keeping with the values and wishes of our community. 

This issue came up at least twice during the budget worksessions that the City Council conducts during the budget process. During those sessions, other members of Council and I suggested that the City Manager provide for a consideration of removal of these real estate tax dedications so that all potential expenditures can be considered on a level playing field. 

Language doing so was included in the motions that Council approved in adopting our budget on May 6th. While there was some confusion over the process, I believe that ultimately this change was the right thing to do.

While the budget was adopted, the question of whether the dedications should continue will come back to Council for a final decision in June. 

This is not a question of funding. The Council's approved budget has $6.7 million for Affordable Housing Development & Preservation--a very large increase over the $3.7 million that was budgeted last year. It has $23.5 million for Open Space Acquisition and Development over the next 10 years 

The question is how we raise the money for those priorities. Let me know your thoughts. 

The ability to have fresh groceries available close to your residence is an essential amenity that every neighborhood should have. Generally, Alexandria has been under-served by food grocers. 

Unfortunately, in parts of our City, particularly the West End, we have seen closures--including the loss of Magruder's in January, and now the loss of two of our local Giant Food locations. 

The Alexandria Economic Development Partnership has been working with national and regional grocers, as well as the real estate industry to attract replacements for the Mark Center Giant, as well as the Magruder's at Seminary Plaza. 

Fresh Market has executed a lease to replace the Bradlee Shopping Center Giant, and they plan to open early in 2014. 

The Bradlee Safeway will be closing in the near future to allow for the construction of a new 60,000 square foot "Lifestyle Safeway" to open in 2014. 

The Giant at Alexandria Commons on Duke Street is seeking to expand their grocery by adding an additional 10,000 square feet adjacent to their existing store (the outdoor space used previously by Hechinger). 

We continually will be challenged to ensure that our residents have access to grocery stores in the future. I will keep you updated as this issue develops.