News

City Council Receiving New Budget, Plans to Give $220K to ALIVE! and $100K to COVID-19 Fund

By James Cullum

Here are a few things to pay attention to this week in Alexandria:

Alexandria City Manager Mark Jinks will formally unveil his $753.3 million fiscal year 2021 operating budget in a virtual meeting on Tuesday, which is 5.8% lower than the $800 million operating budget he proposed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget will close an anticipated $92 million shortfall, and includes a hiring freeze, a drastic reduction in capital projects, and reverses a decision to increase taxes by 2 cents.

Additionally, Council is scheduled to approve another allocation of $220,000 funds to ALIVE! and $100,000 from snow removal contingency funds the ACT Now COVID-19 response fund.

Last month, the city donated $100,000 to the ACT Now fund, and the allocation of $20,000 to ALIVE! to buy bulk food equivalent to 17,000 meals.

Additionally, Mayor Justin Wilson is scheduled to conduct an hour-long virtual town hall meeting at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Spring break ends today, and starting this week food distribution will resume for Alexandria City Public Schools. Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr., will resume his daily 3 p.m. online briefings on Tuesday.

Wednesday is Spring2ACTion, which is the largest annual fundraiser in Alexandria. The 24-hour online giving event for local nonprofits has raised upward of $10 million from 65,000 donors for more than 160 local nonprofits since it began in 2011. Last year ACT for Alexandria raised a record $2.1 million, and this year’s goal is to attract 10,000 donors.

In the meantime, the city is warning against COVID-19-related scams.

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.