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City Council holds its sixth FY 2027 budget work session Wednesday night, turning to the departments that keep city government running — from the City Attorney's office and Finance Department to Information Technology Services and the Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
The session begins at 7 p.m. at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center, 4850 Mark Center Drive, and will be webcast live at alexandriava.gov/Dockets. Public comments are not received during work sessions but can be submitted online at any time.
What's on the table
The "Accountable, Effective & Well-Managed Government" functional area totals $189,918,397 across 15 departments and offices. The dominant line item by far is Non-Departmental at $109,419,580 — a catch-all covering city memberships, insurance, debt service, cash capital, employee compensation, contingent reserves, and emergency response. That single line represents more than half the functional area's entire budget.
Of the named departments, Information Technology Services is the largest at $21,747,786, followed by the Finance Department at $16,649,618 and the Department of General Services at $15,106,787. Human Resources comes in at $6,291,950 and the City Manager's Office at $5,971,130.
Smaller but notable offices on the agenda include the Office of the Independent Policing Auditor at $556,744 — a relatively new function that has drawn Council attention in recent sessions — the Office of Internal Audit at $496,122, the Office of Analytics, Innovation and Data at $1,396,095, and the Office of Voter Registration and Elections at $2,045,721. The latter carries added relevance given the April 21 special election to fill the Council seat vacated by former Council Member R. Kirk McPike, who won a House of Delegates race in February.
City Manager James Parajon noted at the end of Wednesday's combined session last week that tonight's meeting will also include an additional presentation — the nature of which was not specified.
Where things stand
Wednesday is the final scheduled work session before the add-delete process begins in earnest. The proposed $977 million FY 2027 budget has now been reviewed department by department across six functional areas. The questions Council has raised throughout — on rental assistance, DASH expansion, affordable housing bonding authority, mental health staffing, the ACPS collective bargaining gap, and the sustainability of one-time human services funding — will all land in the add-delete process, where Council must decide what to fund, what to cut, and whether any tax rate adjustment is warranted.
The proposed budget holds the real estate tax rate flat at $1.11 per $100 of assessed value, though rising assessments mean the average Alexandria homeowner will pay approximately $504 more per year. Council must notify staff of any planned tax rate changes by April 6 and finalize its add-delete list by April 9.
FY 2027 Budget Calendar
- March 25 — Work Session #6: Accountable & Effective Government, 7 p.m., Del Pepper Community Resource Center
- April 6 — Deadline for Council to notify staff of planned tax rate changes
- April 9 — Council add-delete deadline
- April 18 — FY 2027 Add/Delete and Tax Rate public hearings
- April 21 — Work Session #7: Preliminary Add/Delete; special Council election
- April 27 — Work Session #8: Final Add/Delete (if needed)
- April 29 — FY 2027 Budget and Tax Rate Adoption, 6 p.m.
- July 1 — Fiscal Year 2027 begins
