Poll: How closely do you follow Alexandria’s budget process?

Budget season is Christmas for local policy wonks with every week providing insight into where the city is and isn’t investing in its future. But municipal budgets can also be a famously boring topic.

The annual budget can include some insight into the city’s priorities. This year, for instance, the budget finally includes funding for a police body camera program after being proposed as far back as 2015.

Some of the budget changes could also have a profound impact on the bill for local taxpayers. Mayor Justin Wilson recently proposed a one-time measure that would alleviate a potentially dramatic tax increase for local car owners, and a recent discussion of larger changes to the real estate tax rate could see more of the tax burden shifted to commercial properties.

Are you someone who closely follows the ins and outs of the budget process, or someone who checks in every once in a while but isn’t interested beyond that?