City of Alexandria Closes FY 2011 with $9.8 Million Surplus

At Alexandria City Council’s first legislative session in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, Acting City Manager Bruce Johnson reported that the City of Alexandria closed out FY 2011 on June 30, 2011 with an additional, unexpected operating surplus of $9.8 million, or 1.8% of the total General Fund Operating Budget. The sources of the surplus were $5.57 million in expenditure savings and $4.26 million due to higher than anticipated revenue.

Alexandria City Council is considering recommendations from Johnson to set aside an additional $6.7 million in fund balance to protect against considerable economic uncertainty facing the City, which could lead to future revenue shortfalls. Johnson suggested that the remaining one-third of this surplus ($3.1 million) could be split up and used for the following purposes:

• Pay for one-time emergency response costs incurred from the recent earthquake, hurricane, and flooding
• Set aside for future emergency costs in the remainder of the fiscal year
• Improve emergency response capabilities by providing better equipment and training for first responders
• Increasing emergency management planning and training