City of Alexandria, Virginia Budget Fiscal Year 2011 Essay -- Local Go

The City of Alexandria is recognized as one of the best places to live and do business on the east coast. In 2004, the Alexandria City Council adopted a Strategic Plan for 2004 thru 2015 with the vision of maintaining the city’s vibrant, diverse, historic, and unique neighborhoods. Their mission is to maintain financial stability, provide excellent services that are valued by the customers, and engage the entire community as it plans for the future (City of Alexandria, 2010). In fiscal year 2009, the City of Alexandria received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its annual budget. To receive this prestigious award, the city must meet program criteria as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan, and as a communications device (City of Alexandria, 2010). To maintain the city’s vision, the City of Alexandria continues to conform to program requirements through the city’s Strategic Plan. This paper will discuss in detail the c ity’s long term financial sustainability, by analyzing the city’s legislative guidance, budget outline and overview, revenue fund sources, employee reductions and the Capital Improvement Program overview. The budget does a good job of outlining its overall goals and changes from the previous year. The City of Alexandria’s budget is set by the legislative guidelines (City Charter) required for the City Council to follow. The City Council provides general provisions to the City Manger to prepare and submit the annual budget to the City Council. The City Manager’s responsibility is to submit a general budget, a capital budget, and an explanatory budget message in the form and with the contents provided by the Charter, and the responsibility of the City Council is to es... ...proved%20Budget%20in%20Brief.pdf Capital improvement program overview (2010, May 3). City of Alexandria Virginia. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/FY2011ApprovedBudget-CIP%20Overview.pdf FY 2011 approved budget (2010, May 3). City of Alexandria Virginia. Retrieved December 7, 2010, from http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/FY2011ApprovedBudget-TotalDocument.pdf Legislative references (2010, May 3). City of Alexandria Virginia. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/FY2011ApprovedBudget-LegislativeReferences.pdf Mikesell, J. (2011). Fiscal administration: Analysis and applications for the public sector (8th ed.). Boston Revenues overview (2010, May 3). City of Alexandria Virginia. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/FY2011Approved-TotalRevenuesSection.pdf