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Alexandria City Council heard from more than 30 residents Monday at its first FY 2027 budget public hearing, with speakers filling Del Pepper Community Resource Center to weigh in on how the city should spend nearly $1 billion in the coming fiscal year.
The hearing ran about an hour and 45 minutes. Three topics — the sheriff's office, affordable housing and school funding — accounted for the vast majority of testimony, often overlapping. Here's how the night broke down.
Sheriff's office and ICE collaboration — ~10 speakers
The largest organized message called on council to cut Sheriff Sean Casey's budget over his continued voluntary transfers of inmates to ICE. Speakers arrived with signs reading "FUND OUR COMMUNITY NO $$$ FOR ICE COLLABORATION," coordinated by the ICE Out of Alexandria coalition, which issued a press release earlier in the day.
Speakers described fear in immigrant communities — one said a man in Old Town was detained hours before the hearing — and argued the budget is now the only lever of accountability after council's unanimous statement last November went unheeded by Casey. One speaker estimated $4 million could be cut from the $35.9 million sheriff's budget without compromising core public safety. An ACHS senior connected the issue to students in the school's International Academy, some of whom he said are at risk of detention.
The coalition plans to return to the second budget public hearing on March 14.
What the city manager proposed
The speakers calling for cuts are pushing against a budget that goes in the other direction. City Manager James Parajon has proposed a FY 2027 sheriff's budget of $36,116,994 — a modest 0.7% increase over the current year. The single cut in Parajon's proposal is the elimination of one vacant deputy sheriff position in Judicial Services, saving $93,523. The department would shrink by just one position, to 202 FTEs.
The coalition's $4 million target would represent an 11% reduction from the proposed budget. Council sets the appropriation; what Casey does within that allocation is largely his call as an independently elected constitutional officer. Casey's office transferred 54 people to ICE in 2025, up from 43 in 2024 and 33 in 2023. Council called on him in November to stop the transfers. He has not done so. Tonight, council is expected to set the maximum allowable real estate tax rate and vote on a resolution to change how it funds ACPS starting in FY 2028. Tomorrow night's Work Session #3 — Safe, Secure & Just — is when the council formally reviews the sheriff's proposed budget alongside police, fire, and the rest of the public safety portfolio.
Affordable housing and rental assistance — ~8 speakers
Tenants and Workers United, the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, Legal Aid Justice Center, and VOICE all sent representatives. Several speakers testified in Spanish, including West End renters at Morgan Properties, describing rent increases outpacing wages.
The ask was consistent: $5 million for emergency rental assistance and a rental subsidy pilot; an affordable housing bond to unlock more than $50 million in approved projects awaiting local funding; and a shift to multi-month assistance to reach tenants before eviction court. A Legal Aid housing attorney noted a Virginia eviction judgment is permanent and estimated pre-court intervention saves $400 to $800 per case.
The city's proposed budget includes $11.6 million for affordable housing and an $800,000 increase for housing supply — figures speakers called meaningful but insufficient.
ACPS funding and educator pay — ~7 speakers
Speakers urged council to fund ACPS's full 3.5% budget increase rather than the 1.5% in Parajon's proposed budget — the difference, they argued, between meeting the division's first collective bargaining agreement and falling short. A Hammond Middle School teacher with 13 years in the building said most of the requested increase goes to social workers, wraparound services and community liaisons. Two speakers broke with union messaging to publicly criticize EAA leadership for a lack of transparency with both members and council; one identified himself as a candidate for EAA treasurer.
Councilman Aguirre pushed back after the first education speaker, arguing the school board bears responsibility for items like the Youth in Progress mentoring program and middle school athletics — both presented as cuts requiring more city funding — rather than funding them within their existing allocation. The school board adopted its $408 million budget unanimously in February, requesting $292.3 million from the city — $5.6 million above what the city manager proposed. Chair Michelle Rief warned after the vote that the lower figure "does not even cover a step increase for our staff" and that the division could face position cuts and larger class sizes if the full request isn't funded.
Other topics — ~5 speakers
Middle school athletics, the Youth in Progress mentoring program, and the ALX Beyond out-of-school time locator were each flagged as priorities absent from the proposed budget (3 speakers). ACT for Alexandria and the Commission on Aging warned that new federal SNAP and Medicaid work requirements will drive more residents to city-funded food hubs without additional local resources (2 speakers). A sole proprietor raised Alexandria's professional services business license rate of $0.58 per $100 of gross receipts against Fairfax's $0.31 and Arlington's $0.36 (1 speaker). An Old Town North resident said the Department of Code Administration is understaffed for the volume of active construction projects (1 speaker).
For comparison, the school board's FY 2027 budget public hearing on Jan. 27 drew five speakers, all on proposed cuts to Latin and Chinese instruction at GW and Hammond. That hearing was held virtually due to a winter weather emergency.
What's next
Tomorrow night, council holds its regular legislative meeting and is expected to introduce the tax rate ordinance, setting the maximum rate ceiling that will define the range of options available at adoption. Then:
- March 11 — Work Session #3: Safe, Secure & Just; second budget public hearing
- March 14 — Second budget public hearing
- March 16 — Work Session #4: Livable, Green & Prospering
- March 18 — Work Session #5: Healthy, Thriving & Equitable
- March 25 — Work Session #6: Accountable & Effective Government
- April 18 — Add/Delete and tax rate public hearings, 9:30 a.m.
- April 29 — Budget and tax rate adoption, 6 p.m.
