Taxes set to rise in Alexandria

Alexandria (Map, News) - The Alexandria City Council is expected Monday night to raise a slew of taxes on items ranging from meals and hotel stays to real estate.

Despite asking City Manager James Hartmann in December to present a fiscal 2009 budget that did not include an increase in the residential real estate tax, the council is expected to approve a 1 to 2 cent increase for every $100 to help combat a faltering economy and the loss of expected transportation funds from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in February that the taxes levied by the NVTA for Northern Virginia jurisdictions were unconstitutional.

The city will consider whether to increase the hotel tax from 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent, and is expected to raise the tax on restaurant meals from 3 to 4 percent.

"That would bring us into conformity with Arlington," Councilman Justin Wilson said about the meal tax.

c"We are making significant investments in economic development this year to bring new people into Alexandria," he said. "I think we've long desired to diversify our tax revenue stream to cushion us if tax revenue goes down in other areas like real estate."

Alexandria, with its abundance of small businesses, is not expected to take advantage of a new authority granted by the state to set the real estate tax rate higher for businesses than for homeowners.

Arlington and Fairfax - both counties that house several large corporate headquarters - raised the commercial tax rate by 11 cents and 12.5 cents for every $100, respectively.

The proposed budget also includes increases in the fees charged for ambulance rides and the rate for parking at meters in Old Town.

The maximum ambulance-service charge would jump from $550 to $675, and parking meter rates would rise from 50 cents and 75 cents to $1.

Tax time

The Alexandria City Council is expected to raise taxes by the following amounts:

Real estate: 1 to 2 cents

Commercial real estate: no special tax

Meal tax: 1 percent

Hotels tax: 1 to 2 percent

tluntz@dcexaminer.com  

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