Here are a few things to pay attention to this week in Alexandria:
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city will receive the city manager’s new $743.5 million fiscal year 2021 budget request on Tuesday.
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City Council
City Manager Mark Jinks presented the City Council with preliminary estimates for a $743.5 million fiscal year 2021 budget on Wednesday night — a $56.4 million reduction from the budget he unveiled in February.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Alexandria to drastically change its budget over the course of the last month. Preliminary cuts include eliminating the previously proposed 2 cent real estate tax increase, implementing a city hiring freeze [except $2 million to hire new Health Department staff], deferring raises for city staff and reducing the multi-million dollar transfer to Alexandria City Public Schools.
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Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson is full of praise for the city’s COVID-19 response efforts, but the hard times are just beginning, he told ALXnow in a recent interview.
“Everyone is trying to find so many different ways to give back,” Wilson said. “It’s been very gratifying and we’re gonna need it because the need is only going to be exacerbated over the next couple of weeks and months, if not longer.”
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Alexandria yesterday jumped from nine to 13 as the city struggles to manage a pandemic that may just be getting started.
“Ordinarily would be talking about Potomac Yard and housing crisis — we’re pushing that aside,” said Mayor Justin Wilson at an emergency tele-City Council meeting last night. “It’s been a heartbreaking week, with the promise of more heartbreak ahead.”
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Alexandria City Manager Mark Jinks said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic has created the worst financial crisis he’s ever seen, and has asked staff to make $100 million in budget cuts and prepare for a $35 million revenue shortfall in his fiscal year 2021 budget.
“We crashed, and we don’t know how long this is going to last, when we’re going to come back up,” Jinks told the City Council/School Board Subcommittee in an online meeting. “I’ve told staff we need $100 million in cuts and savings between the current fiscal year and next fiscal year, is my rough guess. That will be savings and looking at capital projects and seeing what we need to cancel or what we need to reschedule to a future year.”
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City Manager Mark Jinks says that his proposed fiscal year 2021 budget will be deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and predicts that proposed capital investments will take a hit.
“There will be notable changes in the budget, probably I would suspect capital investments,” Jinks told ALXnow. “We’ve got projects related to city facilities, school facilities that we could do differently. Maybe we talk to Arlington about how the Glebe Road Bridge could stay up as it is for another year. Maybe it can’t.”
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Inova Alexandria Hospital has an “adequate supply” of COVID-19 testing kits for anyone meeting the criteria of symptoms recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital President Dr. Rina Bansal told City Council on Wednesday night.
The hospital, which has restricted visitation, is also asking that anyone feeling symptomatic should call ahead to warn staff. Uninsured patients will also be admitted, as their costs will fall under charity care for the nonprofit hospital system.
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The Alexandria City Council will suspend the city’s dining and transient lodging taxes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
City staff said at an emergency meeting last night (Wednesday) that they will present the Council with legislation to not penalize businesses for not paying their dining tax and/or transient lodging tax, and would then work out a payment plan for missed months at a later date.
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With only five reported cases in the city so far, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on Alexandria residents, businesses and the city government.
There has been one reported instance of price gouging, with packages of 10 rolls of Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper being sold for more than $60 at the Food Star at 206 W. Glebe Road.
The Alexandria Health Department is investigating three new positive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, the city announced in an update on Tuesday night.
There are now five confirmed cases in the city at this time. The first was identified on March 11 and the second on March 15.
The Alexandria City Council is considering steps for its COVID-19 response and recovery, including the suspension of the city’s dining tax collection.
Mayor Justin Wilson, in a Tuesday memorandum to the city manager’s office, outlined a number of measures that the city can take to mitigate the impact of the emergency.