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Office of the City Clerk
April 3, 2003

All Persons, Including Applicants, Wishing
to Speak Before City Council Must Fill Out A
Speaker's Form (Which May Be Found in The
Rear of the Council Chamber) and Present It
to the City Clerk.

Please Present A Copy of Your
Statement to the City Clerk.


Special Public Hearing Meeting
Wednesday, April 2, 2003 - - 4:30 p.m.


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Please take notice that City Council held a Special Public Hearing Meeting on the Proposed Budget on Wednesday, April 2, 2003, at 4:30 p.m., in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 301 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia, for the purpose of considering the following items.

/s/Philip Sunderland, City Manager

OPENING

1. Calling the Roll.

The Meeting was called to Order by Mayor Donley, and the City Clerk called the Roll; all Members of City Council were present with Councilwoman Pepper arriving at 4:45 p.m.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

2. Public Hearing on The Proposed Annual Operating Budget for FY 2004 (including Schools) and The Proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY 2004-2009 (including the School CIP). (#8 3/11/03) This Public Hearing also includes hearing testimony on Councilman Speck's proposal for long-term funding of Open Space in the City of Alexandria. (#9 3/11/03)

While comments on tax rates can be made as part of the public hearing on the Budget and the CIP, the Public Hearing on An Ordinance to establish real estate and personal property tax rates for calendar year 2003, and the effective tax rate increase for 2003, will be held on Tuesday, April 22, 2003.

Councilman Euille noted that most of Council is on record to try to reduce the tax rate further from the three-cent reduction recommended in the City Manager's proposed budget.

Vice Mayor Cleveland requested a report back on what can be done to cap the real estate bills.


Mayor Donley requested a budget memo regarding a cap on the real estate tax bills. If it’s seven percent, that’s going to indicate what the revenue generation would be which would mean, again, assuming a seven percent increase, it would determine how much Council would have to cut out of the proposed budget to reach Mr. Cleveland’s or the Council’s goal as suggested by Mr. Cleveland. Mayor Donley requested staff to give Council an idea of what that tax rate would be to get a seven percent aggregate increase that will also determine how much Council would have to reduce on the expenditure side for it to achieve that goal. That gives Council some information, some implications, of the policy determinations that Mr. Cleveland is requesting for Council to have that discussion.

With respect to open space, Councilman Euille asked the status of his request to staff to take a look at other types of funding options and/or mechanisms. He asked the possibility of using bonds for financing.

Councilman Speck requested budget memos on the following: (1) the issue that Judy Noritake raised regarding funds designated for design purposes for the Charles Houston Recreation Center and the Patrick Henry Recreation Center; (2) the recommendations that were made by Dave Mercer on behalf of Campagna Center regarding Campagna Kids; (3) the issue of the Community Partnership Fund and trying to have some rationale for why that should be where it is or why it should be increased. He stated that he doesn't know if Council wants to look at this in the same way that it looked at the Arts Commission budget which was to have a longer term plan or whether there is some basis or framework for how much is there now, whether it should be increased, and, if so, on what schedule or by how much. The fact that it's the amount that it is now is because that's essentially the amount that was there when we started. We don't really have any basis for determining the right amount, is it too much or is it too little; (4) Ellen Pickering's recommendations about a stream valley study. In addition, Mr. Speck felt that Ms. Pickering's suggestions about video tapes being available for citizens to review without having to purchase copies, and the issue of a rising podium are two very good suggestions for things that we do to accommodate our community. These are good services, and we should just go ahead and do them; and (5) the issue raised by Senior Services Board Member Couture regarding funding for a coordinator for Meals on Wheels in whatever budget Council sees fit to place the funds.

With respect to the $409,931 in health contingency that is separate and apart from Contingent Reserves, Mayor Donley requested a budget memo providing Council with an explanation of what that is. Mayor Donley also requested some recommendation on the request received from Senior Services regarding Meals on Wheels.

Councilwoman Eberwein requested a memo from Director of Transportation and Environmental Services Baier with regard to the consulting fees of $100,000 and bringing the work in-house. Ms. Eberwein would like to have his comments on turning that back into consulting fees. She has concerns about whether that might be questioned in terms of the objectivity of those numbers given some of our recent experiences.

In response to Councilwoman Eberwein's query, Assistant City Manager Jinks indicated that staff does periodic reviews of the City's fee revenue sources.




Councilwoman Woodson spoke to affordable housing. She noted that our contribution to the Housing Trust Fund is going to get smaller as the years go out and that concerns her. The Interfaith Alliance has expressed an interest in the City making a commitment in some way to increasing the amount of affordable housing in the City by threefold. She would like to see in what way the City could project that happening. We have talked a little bit about supporting the creation of a Community Development Corporation which, of course, we don't have here and that certainly would be one avenue towards developing best practices in affordable housing, and perhaps, the development of affordable housing. Ms. Woodson would like to see anything that the City sees as a potential given the fact that we are going to have limited contributions. Ms. Woodson stated that we need to embrace this as an issue that is not going to go away. It is getting worse, and it's getting worse on two sides, both the cost of housing and the cost of taxes. She would like for the City to at least look at that and come back to Council with some projection of what we're going to have and what we're not going to have in the out years.

Mayor Donley stated that certainly included in that budget memo should be an explanation, the Manager had indicated the other night that he was going to bring forward within the next couple of weeks a proposal for us to consider, but he has included an additional million dollars in the Housing Opportunities Fund this year, bringing to a total of 2.6 million dollars that is available. And that goes to some of the discussion Ms. Woodson has requested because there is a significant allocation in general fund dollars in the proposed budget at least for the Housing Opportunities Fund, and the potential creation of a CDC.

Councilman Euille piggybacked on both the expressions of Councilman Speck relative to the Campagna Kids and the Community Partnership Fund. He agreed that there should be some type of formula or program to continue to fund an increase for this fund annually; however, he requested staff to focus on increasing the Community Partnership Fund by $125,000 to see what the impacts are. He noted that we are in the last year of the three-year plan of the Arts group funding. Mr. Euille indicated that Council needs to refocus whether or not it wants to recommit itself to some type of continued funding plan formula for the arts programs. Councilman Euille supports Councilwoman Woodson's request regarding affordable housing and we need to always be thinking about what we can do, and how we can identify some resources. Not as part of this proposed FY 04 budget, but Mr. Euille requested us to focus on whether or not and what the timetable would be to become a wireless community.

City Council closed the public hearing and adjourned the meeting at 7:10 p.m.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________
Note: The action docket is a summary of Council's meeting deliberations prepared largely for staff follow-up. Formal Minutes of the meeting, when approved by Council, become the official record of the meeting and of Council decisions made at the meeting.
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This docket is subject to change.

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Full-text copies of ordinances, resolutions, and agenda items are available in the Office of the City Clerk and Clerk of the Council. Meeting materials are also available on-line at https://alexandriava.gov/council.
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Individuals with disabilities who require assistance or special arrangements to participate in the City Council meeting may call the City Clerk and Clerk of Council's Office at 838-4500 (TTY/TDD 838-5056). We request that you provide a 48-hour notice so that the proper arrangements may be made.
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Individuals who require translation services to participate in the City Council meeting may call the City Clerk and Clerk of Council's Office at 838-4500. We request that you provide a 48-hour notice so that the proper arrangements may be made.
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