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Alexandria School Board passes budget, asks City to fund 10.25% raise for all eligible staff

By James Cullum

The Alexandria School Board unanimously adopted Superintendent Gregory Hutchings’ $346 million fiscal year 2022 Combined Funds Budget last Thursday night.

The proposal, which was approved without discussion, is a nearly 4% increase ($9.3 million) over last year’s request from the City, and asks for approximately $248.7 million from the city to give employees a 2.6% salary step increase and a 2.5% market rate adjustment. The school system is banking on the hope that the city will endorse former Governor Ralph Northam’s proposal to raise teacher pay by 10.25% across the state.

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New City Manager says he’s excited to work with superintendent, will present budget next month

By James Cullum
Alexandria City Hall (staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Just hours before a Joint City Council/School Board Subcommittee meeting, new Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon spoke with Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr.

Parajon, who started work earlier this month, said it was a great conversation and that he looked forward to working collaboratively with Hutchings, who wants a 2.6% salary step increase and a 2.5% market rate adjustment for all eligible ACPS employees in the upcoming fiscal year 2023 budget.

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Wary of new Governor Youngkin, ACPS still proposes 10.25% in staff raises

By James Cullum

Alexandria City Public Schools is sticking with its proposed 10.25% salary increase for all employees, and Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. says that number will not change based on potential guidance from Governor Glenn Youngkin.

“Regardless of what the governor says or does, we have positioned ourselves to continue to increase compensation for our staff,” School Board Chair Meagan Alderton said at a budget retreat last week. “This is the type of proactive intentional work that will, I think, makes us successful to be able to sustain what it is we’re trying to do right now.”

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News

Amid declining enrollment, ACPS proposes employee raises in new budget proposal

By James Cullum

(Updated at noon, Jan. 12) In the midst of declining enrollment, Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. wants to give all ACPS employees a raise.

That’s the gist of Hutchings’ $346 million fiscal year 2022 Combined Funds Budget, which he presented to the School Board last Thursday night (Jan. 6). The proposal is a nearly 4% increase over last year’s budget, and asks for approximately $248.7 million from the city. The City Council ultimately provides ACPS with 80% of its operating fund.

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Alexandria first responder unions question necessity of tax increase to pay for employee raises

By Vernon Miles
Alexandria Fire Department ambulance. (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

In the last few months, a head-long battle between Alexandria’s police and firefighters against city leadership has come to a head as first responders unions say underpayment has left staffing at critical levels.

City staff recently laid out the potential costs to implement a pay raise for first responders, but unions representing those first responders say that sticker shock is less intense in the broader context of the budget.

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City Council emphasizes marketing funding for Alexandria’s ‘Hot Girl Summer’

By Vernon Miles

City Council member John Chapman has the distinction, marked in the record, of being the first on the dais to use the phrase “hot girl summer” — and in the most unlikely of contexts.

Chapman’s millennial moment came through at the end of hours of public discussion on where the American Rescue Plan Act funding is going. No decision was reached at the City Council meeting this weekend — and final passage is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6 — but the City Council did indicate interest in emphasizing the city’s tourism and overall marketing in the funding package.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By James Cullum

What a week in Alexandria. Here are some of the highlights.

The Alexandria City Council on Wednesday approved its Fiscal Year 2022 $770.7 million budget on Wednesday, and it includes a 2 cent real estate tax reduction. It’s the first time that’s happened in 15 years, and the budget also fully funds Alexandria City Public Schools’ request and includes a 1% raise for city and state employees.

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School Resource Officers at ACPS on chopping block as Police chief proposes alternative program

By James Cullum
Alexandria City Hall (staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria City Councilors seemed surprised by Police Chief Michael Brown on Tuesday night, when he presented an alternate plan to Council Mo Seifeldein’s proposal to reappropriate nearly $800,000 in School Resource Officer funding for mental health resources for school aged children.

“The proposal is to cut the funding and redirect it,” Mayor Justin Wilson said. “It sounds like the Chief is talking about something that involves retaining the funding, and making changes to the way the folks are operating.”

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City Council expands the scope of stormwater fee uses

By Vernon Miles
A trail over Holmes Run closed in 2020 after flooding damaged the trail system (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

To go along with a recent increase in the stormwater utility fee, Alexandria’s City Council is broadening the scope of what that can be covered by that fee.

At a City Council meeting on Saturday, the Council voted unanimously in favor of expanding the uses of the fee to help combat some of the rampant flooding that’s plagued the city over the last few years.

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