Last month, the City Manager presented his proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022) and his proposed Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Year 2022 through Fiscal Year 2031. This begins City Council's annual budget process, which will culminate in the adoption of the budget on May 5th.

You can watch the City Manager's presentation of the budget to the public, which was recorded shortly after the presentation to the City Council.

A week from today, the City Council will hold our public hearing on the proposed budget. The public hearing will be held on Monday March 8th beginning at 5:30 PM. If you wish to address the Council on the proposed budget, you can sign-up to speak online.

The budget is being considered and adopted against the backdrop of an extraordinary set of constraints and uncertainty. In November, the City Manager presented his initial outlook for the upcoming budget at our annual Council retreat.

The City Manager has again prioritized our schools, with 35% of all new revenue proposed to go to our schools, and full funding of the School Board's approved operating budget request. 

In additional the budget documents linked above, all questions asked by members of Council during the process are posted, along with answers, online for the public to review. Any request to change the proposed budget must be initiated with a budget question, so it is a good window into the thoughts of your elected representatives. 

Let me know your thoughts!

Last month, the City Council unanimously adopted an an ordinance to double our Stormwater Utility Fee. to significantly increase the resources available for investments in our storm sewer infrastructure. This increase will cost a condo owner an additional $39 annually, a townhouse owner an additional $58, a small single-family homeowner an additional $140 and a large single-family homeowner an additional $233.

The Council also created a new Ad Hoc Stormwater Utility and Flood Mitigation Advisory Group. This new committee will help advise the Council and our staff as we work to implement these important investments. We are accepting applications for this committee now. Applications are due by 5 PM today.

Recently enacted state legislation, sponsored by Senator Adam Ebbin at the City's request, gives the City the flexibility to use these resources to address all of the challenges facing our residents.

This increase will bring in an additional $8.5 million annually and support a newly accelerated 10-year program of investments. While these funds will address many smaller "spot improvement" projects, this funding will allow the City to undertake 11 of the top priority storm sewer capacity projects over the next decade:

In November, the City Council received the initial output from our recently-formed interdepartmental team working to address these challenges. You can watch the full worksession online.

In June of 2018, property owners in Alexandria paid a Stormwater Utility Fee for the first time ever. The creation of this fee was driven by the need for additional revenue to comply with the City's MS4 Permit. The permit reflects Alexandria's obligations to reduce pollutants contained in storm run-off which makes its way to the Chesapeake Bay and other waterways.

The fee applies to all properties (regardless of their taxable status). For commercial properties, it is assessed based on the impervious surfaces on the property. For residential properties, there are four tiers (apartment, townhome, small single-family home and large single-family home). There is a credit system in place to encourage actions that assist the City's storm sewers. Essentially the fee is structured to be a user fee for the City's stormwater handling.

For over 3 decades, Alexandria has designed and planned for our storm sewer system to withstand a "10-year" storm event. Said another way, a storm that is expected to have a 10% chance of happening every year, is the designed capacity of our system.

Alexandria spends a significant amount of money on infrastructure designed to manage water. In April of last year, the City Council approved a $2.1 billion, ten-year Capital Improvement Program. Of that, over $150 million is to address stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure. Alexandria Renew Enterprises, the City's sewer authority, plans another $593 million of capital investments over the next decade, primarily the RiverRenew project to remediate the Combined Sewer (sanitary and stormwater) system that serves Old Town.

Together, nearly $750 million is planned for water investments. This spending dwarfs planned investments in schools, transportation and other major priorities. Only a decade ago, planned investments in water infrastructure were less than a quarter of this total, but addressing these challenges will require a sustained increase in that investment level of a long period of time.

In 2016, the City conducted a comprehensive Storm Sewer Capacity Analysis. This exhaustive study looked at each of the City's eight watersheds (Backlick Run, Cameron Run, Four Mile Run, Holmes Run, Hooff's Run, Holmes Run, Potomac River, Strawberry Run and Taylor Run) and identified problem areas where current capacity does not meet our 10-year storm design standard.

From the maintenance perspective, it is also clear that we have work to do. The City is currently undertaking a $2 million effort to clear approximately 7,000 feet of the Hooff's Run Culvert. This 70+ year old urban culvert is designed to be "self-cleaning." After the July 2019 flooding event, the City commissioned a firm to do a robotic assessment of the condition of the culvert. That assessment showed an average of 5% obstruction across the culvert and some areas of 15-20% obstruction. The clearing of the culvert commenced last year and is expected to take several months. It does not appear to have been done before, certainly not in recent memory.

We will also work to expand efforts to assist homeowners in making their properties more resilient. The City has long had a program in place to fund the installation of Sewer Backflow Prevention devices. These devices help prevent sanitary sewer backflow from entering homes during severe rain events.

For development, whether large-scale, mixed-use development or a small residential addition, Alexandria's stringent stormwater requirements stipulate that conditions after development to be the same and oftentimes better than they were. As a consequence, the flooding we have experienced in the City is typically in established neighborhoods, areas of our City where we have not seen new development (aside from infill) in decades. Yet, there may be options to further strengthen these existing requirements. We have sought additional authority from the General Assembly for these expanded requirements.

This year, our overall real estate tax base grew by 2.69%. This brings the City's real estate tax base to $43.83 billion. Of the $1.1 billion increase in the real estate tax base this year, $227 million, about a quarter, was from new construction. 

Last month, the City mailed assessment notices to each property owner and you may view valuations online. Included online is information about comparable transactions that were used to calculate individual assessments. 

Until March 15th, a resident can submit a request to have assessments reviewed for modification by the City Staff. Those requests can be submitted online. 

The City Manager's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022) continues a multi-year effort to address the condition of the City's roads. The proposed budget includes $6.3 million for this upcoming fiscal year ($60.3 million for the next decade) to pave miles of roads around our City.

The City has 561 lane miles of roads for which it is responsible. Every 3 years, our Transportation and Environmental Services Department assesses every street in the City assigning each a Pavement Condition Inventory (PCI) score. Based on that score and available resources, our paving plan for each year is formulated. This year's schedule is based on the 2019 survey rankings. 

Last month, nearly all elected officials in the state were required to submit an annual Statement of Economic Interests. While these documents are subject to public inspection in our Clerk's office, at my request, over five years ago, Alexandria became the first local government in Virginia to post these disclosures online. We may still be the only jurisdiction that does so.

About 17 years ago, Alexandria became one of the earliest jurisdictions in Virginia to post local campaign finance reports online. Anyone can easily review who finances the campaigns of Alexandria's elected officials. 

In 2009, I along with then-Councilman Smedberg and then-Councilman Krupicka, successfully sought approval from Richmond to impose new restrictions on land-use applicants. Specifically, the new laws we adopted require land-use applicants to reveal any financial interests that they might have with policymakers. 

The City also began posting online the reports of our Internal Auditor for public review. 

In January of 2016, the Council adopted a Transparency Resolution to consider ideas for improving transparency in City operations.  The adopted resolution included language that I drafted requesting that our Clerk begin producing an annual report detailing the Council's use of executive session during the previous year. Executive session is a closed meeting of Council, neither televised nor witnessed by any members of the general public, for specific purposes. 

The Code of Virginia strictly limits the circumstances where the City Council can meet in executive session. As a practical matter, the sessions are used primarily to address personnel issues, litigation strategy, and the acquisition or disposition of public property. In the case of the latter two examples, the executive sessions are used to protect the City's negotiating posture and thus protect the taxpayer dollar. 

The latest of these executive session reports is now posted and available for public consumption. It shows that the Council met in executive session 8 times during the last Council term and each vote to go into executive session was unanimous. 

On Saturday, the United States House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion piece of legislation that contains a $350 billion local government assistance package.

This legislation will now go to the Senate for consideration. In enacted, this will provide a significant infusion of cash, with little restriction on its use, for the City. In anticipation of this funding, the City Council spent time at our last legislative meeting determining priorities for this next round.

While the City Manager has recommended a framework similar to how the City utilized previous COVID relief funding, I have pushed for us to broaden our thinking. This will be a large infusion of one-time money. I believe we should use this money to create sustainable structures that will not only help us recover, but benefit the City for decades to come.

In May of last year, the City received our first tranche of Federal CARES Act money. We have put that money to good use in benefiting the residents and businesses in need in our City.

In June, as we were on track to fully expend the $13.9 million that the City received, I wrote to urge the quick release of the second tranche of funding. At the end of July, the Governor announced the allocation of that money to address the significant need that remained.

While jurisdictions around the country have faced real criticism for frivolous expenditure of these scarce funds, the City committed early in this crisis to ensure that we effectively used these funds to assist our residents and businesses who have suffered during this crisis and that we leave no dollar on the table. I believe we did just that.

While there is new hope that COVID-19 may soon be behind us, the hardship faced by our residents and businesses will continue for a while to come. The City will continue to find ways to provide the support required. I am hopeful we will take this opportunity to use these resources to wisely shape our future.

Just over a decade ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a historic commitment to the health of the Chesapeake Bay. With the establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), the EPA committed six states and the District of Columbia to significant reductions in pollutants across a 64,000 square-mile watershed.

The establishment of this TMDL imposed a "pollution diet" on the entire watershed, committing to reductions of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment from flowing into the Bay. To meet these ambitious goals, this TMDL was divided into smaller TMDLs for waterways and jurisdictions throughout the watershed.

Meeting this commitment to the future of the Bay requires extensive, collective action across the watershed. Alexandria is working to do its part.

The process has not always been smooth. Our neighbors in Fairfax County partnered with the Commonwealth to sue the EPA challenging the TMDL that was set for Accotink Creek. The lawsuit was successful, disallowing an EPA attempt to regulate the volume of run-off, as opposed to specific pollutants.

In order to meet the City's obligations under the Federal Clean Water Act and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the City holds an MS4 Permit (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System). The permit, issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, imposes a "pollution diet" on the City. We are in the second 5-year permit cycle that will culminate in reaching our portion of the TMDL.

By 2023, we must meet 40% of the TMDL. By 2028, we must reach 100%.

The City is on track to meet our obligations to the Chesapeake Bay.

To ease the burden on Alexandria's taxpayers, the City has sought funding from the Commonwealth. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality administers the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund (SLAF), which provides matching grants to assist local governments in addressing these requirements.

The City recently completed two major stormwater projects, the Lake Cook Stormwater Management Retrofit Project and the Ben Brenman Pond Stormwater Management Retrofit Project.

The Lake Cook project, was the beneficiary of $1.5 million of SLAF funding, and made significant improvements to better treat stormwater and enhance the natural resources at this location along Eisenhower Avenue.

The Ben Brenman Pond project, was the beneficiary of $1.75 million of SLAF funding, and made improvements to better filter pollutants and upgrade landscaping at this location in Cameron Station.

The City has now received SLAF funding for three other projects. The EPA has advanced stream restoration as a technique for the reduction of pollutants in the Bay. This technique involves repairing the human impacts on streams, with the goal of restoring these streams back to their natural states.

After an assessment helped prioritize and assess the pollutant reduction opportunities, the City selected three projects to be submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Each was awarded SLAF funding by the state.

The Lucky Run Stream Restoration project received $668,000 of SLAF funding and proposes to enhance the stream, re-introduce native plants, and improve the aesthetics of this area located in the shadow of Interstate 395 on the West End. This project was unanimously approved by City Council to be submitted for funding in 2017. More information was presented to the community at a meeting in 2019.

The Strawberry Run Stream Restoration project received $800,000 of SLAF funding and proposes making natural stream restoration improvements in an area bounded by Fort Williams Parkway, Taft Avenue and Duke Street. This project was unanimously approved by City Council to be submitted for funding in 2018. A public meeting was held in the fall to collect input on this project.

The Taylor Run Stream Restoration has received $2.55 million of SLAF funding and proposes restoring the natural stream-bed and repairing a threatened sanitary sewer connection in an area near the Chinquapin Recreation Center. This project was unanimously approved by City Council to be submitted for funding in 2018. At the end of January, a community meeting was held to review changes and solicit community feedback.

Together, these are very important environmental projects for our City.

At Taylor Run, in addition to protecting a sanitary sewer line running through the area, this project will result in 9% of our required Nitrogen reduction, 30% of our required Phosphorous reduction and 4% of our required sediment reduction.

At Lucky Run, this project will result in 9% of our required Nitrogen reduction, 26% of our required Phosphorous reduction and 57% of our required sediment reduction.

At Strawberry Run, this project will result in 10% of our required Nitrogen reduction, 34% of our required Phosphorous reduction and 14% of our required sediment reduction.

The City has important obligations to improve the quality of the water in the waterways of our region. These investments maintain our commitment to the future of the Chesapeake Bay.

Tomorrow, the first cohort of hybrid students will return to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) buildings. This is welcome progress in efforts to bring our students back to in-person education across the City.

On March 16th, all hybrid students will return to classrooms for two days a week. We still have considerable work ahead as we must create the public health conditions and meet the physical plant requirements to support a safe return to classrooms for students, educators and support staff alike.

The City's Health Department has worked closely for months with ACPS to support a safe return to classrooms. Alexandria was the first jurisdiction in the Commonwealth to begin vaccinating our teachers. Governor Ralph Northam came to Alexandria to witness the first vaccination. We will continue to push to explore existing facilities that may be repurposed to support the return to in-person learning, either in the spring or in the fall if necessary.

In a season of many tragedies and loss, the loss of a considerable amount of education for our children has been particularly frustrating. Children should be in school learning. Watching some students miss the traditional senior year of high school and others miss the beginning of Kindergarten is a loss that can never be replaced.

In the fall, the Virginia Department of Health posted a new view of the Commonwealth's COVID data that reflects the new "Indicators for Dynamic School Decision-Making" that were issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The CDC has now updated their guidance to reflect strategies to support a safe return to in-person learning.

Educational policymakers around our nation are in an impossible situation as they attempt to provide a first-class education to our students against the backdrop of an extraordinary pandemic.

For our students and families, our schools serve many important functions beyond educational instruction. They provide child-care, food and nutrition services, health care services, transportation and more. The pandemic has forced a disaggregation of how we provide school. Filling the gaps has required difficult choices and partnerships with various public agencies, non-profits and private providers.

There is no question that policymakers influencing school decisions want to see our students back in school. As a parent of two ACPS students myself, I share that desire. The health benefits of students being in school together are considerable.

I recognize there are stark realities presented by virtual education. Many of our students cannot learn virtually. Students will fall behind academically, socially and emotionally. Some of our more vulnerable students (lower-income, special education, limited language proficiency, etc) are in an even more precarious situation. I don't believe you will find anyone involved in educational policy-making right now who believes this is optimal.

The work of supporting our families is not solely the work of ACPS. The City government, our non-profit partners and our community will need to collaborate to provide the critical services our students and their families require during this time. The City has committed additional resources to our schools, identified facilities and staffing support. Those efforts will continue as long as they are necessary.

While the conditions are clearly sub-optimal, we owe it to our students to support every student during this extraordinary time in their lives.

If you have not been receiving my campaign updates and you wish to receive information on this new campaign, please drop my campaign a line and we'll get you on the list for the campaign.