Alexandria Sheriff Sean Casey and members of his staff argued against a proposed budget reallocation before City Council on Saturday (April 18).
Casey said a proposal by Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley and City Councilman Abdel Elnoubi to transfer $200,000 out of the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office budget for a jail operational efficiency study is a waste of valuable resources and will hurt an already cash-strapped agency. While a number of speakers at Saturday’s public hearing called for Casey’s budget to be cut over what they see as voluntary collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Enforcement, several City Council members defended the proposed study, saying the measure is intended to improve ASO operations.
Casey said the community is at an inflection point.
“Do you want to be in the jail business?” Casey asked Council. “If you are going to be in it, you’ve got to make sure you’re fully prepared to fund the safe and lawful operation of the jail, because continuing what we’ve been doing really isn’t an option. It’s not fair to the staff or inmates and the community, and as you consider that question. I want to be clear that we operate a high performing, efficient, nationally recognized jail because of the professionals and dedication of my staff, who are all here on their own time today.”
Bagley and Elnoubi’s proposed jail operational efficiency study is intended to determine whether ASO should restructure its staffing model. Casey said ASO recently completed its own six-week, 67-page staffing study with the U.S. Department of Justice and argued the funding should come from elsewhere.
“Doing the analysis we did, I wish there was a different staffing model,” Casey said. “We went into it hoping there would be so that we’d be more efficient, and there wasn’t … I just don’t think the money should come from our budget to ask those questions.”
The specific language in Bagley and Elnoubi’s budget addition is below.
$200,000 for a one-time transfer from the Sheriff’s budget for a jail operational efficiency study — The city is spending more to operate its jail than necessary because staffing levels are set for a full capacity of 340 inmates, even though the jail has averaged only 281.2 inmates over the past six years. In FY 2024, that cost taxpayers $32 million — $18.4 million of which came from local tax dollars. The jail houses more federal inmates (144.7 average) than local inmates (135.3 average), yet federal contract revenue covers only $7.4 million of operating costs while local taxpayers absorb more than double that amount. The Sheriff has indicated that the population would need to fall to 150 or fewer before staffing could be reduced. A jail operational efficiency study should evaluate whether the current staffing model can be restructured and whether alternative jail models could better align costs with actual need and relieve the burden on local taxpayers.
ALXnow has reached out to ASO for its staffing study.
City Councilman Canek Aguirre argued that the proposed $200,000 study will not affect ASO staffing, and it would be funded through a $171,000 cut to ASO’s GED program for inmates, $90,000 by not taking on inmate medical contracting services and $93,000 by not filling a deputy sheriff position — measures that ASO outlined as part of of a 1% budget reduction request from the City Manager to all departments in the FY2027 budget cycle.
“I just want to remind the public that this $200,000 is not affecting staffing,” Aguirre said. “I think this body agrees that the Sheriff’s Office is understaffed, and… the sheriff is actively looking to fill 13 positions to help with that minimal staffing. This council is not looking to do anything around the 13 positions. This $200,000 does not have to do with staffing.”
In his proposed $977 million FY 2027 budget, City Manager Jim Parajon is asking City Council to approve a $36.1 million funding request for ASO, a 0.7% increase over the approved current FY 2026 budget. ASO has struggled with staffing shortages for years, even rehiring retired deputies to work on a part-time basis. Last summer, ASO launched a recruitment website as it contended with a dozen staff vacancies.
ASO Sgt. Angela Speight testified that the cuts will eventually affect security at the jail and courthouse.
“The cuts mean you want us to work with even less and we’re already working with the bare minimum financially,” Speight said. “The city consistently expects us to do the same amount of work with the same quality, with less resources and less staff, and that’s not been fair.”
Some speakers at Saturday’s public hearing said Casey’s budget should be cut solely because his office adheres to administrative warrants to release detainees to ICE custody.
“Our tax dollars should not be going to fund ICE collaboration or a sheriff’s department that has ignored the council statement to stop this practice,” said Oliver Moreno, a member of ICE Out of Alexandria. “Our tax dollars should not go to fund programs that turn our community members to ICE where they face danger and oftentimes life-threatening situations.”
Undersheriff Dan Gordon criticized the council over using the budget to punish the sheriff’s office for disagreements on law and policy.
“You’re not entitled to use the budget to punish us for it,” Gordon said. “I ask a member of the City Council who has not yet committed to this reckless and wasteful proposal to vote against it.”
Councilman John Taylor Chapman said the state has to start paying more to localities.
“The state has to step up its level of funding for Northern Virginia, or else all of the sheriff’s departments in Northern Virginia are going to struggle, all of the school systems, all of the health departments, everything that’s aligned with the state that is choosing to underfund Northern Virginia is going to fall apart in the next five to 10 years,” Chapman said. “We cannot sustain the levels of funding that are going to be needed just on straight pay raises alone in the next 10 years.”
Remaining City Council budget meetings
- April 21, 2026 – FY 2027 Budget Work Session #7 Preliminary Add/Delete
- April 27, 2026 – FY 2027 Budget Work Session #8 -Final Add/Delete (if needed)
- April 29, 2026 – FY 2027 Budget Adoption/Tax Rate Adoption
