Alexandria’s City Council set a one-cent ceiling for the city’s real estate tax rate on Tuesday night.
City Councilman John Taylor Chapman made the motion to increase the ceiling, which is not the final adopted tax rate. While City Manager Jim Parajon’s proposed $977 million Fiscal Year 2027 budget has no tax increase, the one-cent ceiling gives the city more options in crafting the budget, which is set for a final council vote on April 29.
The last time the real estate tax rate jumped was in 2024, when City Council increased it 2.5 cents to its current rate of $1.135.
One cent added to the real estate tax rate adds up to about $4.7 million and would result in a $280 average annual increase in residential tax bills, according to the city. Keeping the current tax rate would increase average residential tax bills by $210 per year due to rising real estate values.
Chapman said that the funding option gives City Council another tool in its budget deliberations.
“I’m not necessarily saying that we are going to go up one cent or go up half a cent,” Chapman told his colleagues. “As you can see with the real estate history, many times we don’t do that.”
The one-cent increase didn’t sit well with Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley, who made a motion to set the ceiling at a half-cent. Her motion died with a lack of a second.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins said that she doesn’t want to see a tax increase in the final budget.
“I’m probably leaning very strongly towards no increase,” Gaskins said. “I think we’ve been presented a very strong budget at the current tax rate, and we’re still finding efficiencies for other funding that we can use for some of our priorities. I’m willing to support the motion, given that it gives us that wiggle room.”
City Council will formally adopt a tax rate at its public hearing on April 18 (Saturday), the same day as its add/delete budget hearing.
