FY 27 Budget Q&A #090: Please provide a budget equity score for any submissions with a "pending" status in the FY 2027 Proposed Budget.

Page updated on April 15, 2026 at 4:19 PM
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Question: Please provide a budget equity score for any submissions with a "pending" status in the FY 2027 Proposed Budget. 

Response: 

The FY 2027 proposed budget document included budget equity scores for over 80 proposed budget additions and reductions. At the time the proposed budget was published, eight budget submissions had pending equity scores. These submissions have since been reviewed, and equity scores have now been assigned. Please refer to the table below for the updated scores.  

Addition/ Reduction 

 

Department 

 

Proposal Title 

 

BET Score 

Reduction Criminal Justice Services Partial reduction to the NVFS contract Likely to Contribute to Increased Equity 
Addition Economic Development Visit Alexandria - one time marketing Maintains 
Addition Economic Development AEDP - ALX Forward Likely to Contribute to Increased Equity 
Reduction Health Reduction of Clinical Services - Family Planning No Specific Connection 
Reduction Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Reduction to printing and binding No Specific Connection 
Reduction Office of Independent Policing Efficiency savings in the non-personnel budget No Specific Connection 
Reduction Planning and Zoning 1% Reduction - Over hire Personnel Adjustment No Specific Connection 
Addition Transit Services One-Time DASH Line 32 Expansion Likely to Contribute to Increased Equity 

The Budget Equity Tool (BET) is intended to explicitly incorporate considerations of racial and social equity in the development of the City’s budget. It is both a process and a product. The process in that staff, fiscal representatives, and department leaders are expected to thoughtfully evaluate their proposed additions (also known as supplementals) and reductions for their equity impacts by answering five questions, based on people, place, and benefits/burdens. The five questions are as follows: 
 

  1.  What specific racial and/or social inequities in Alexandria does this proposal intend to address/reduce? (0-4 points) 
  2. Who will benefit from this proposal? Who will be burdened? Externally, which communities will be impacted; internally, who/what levels of staff will be impacted? Please answer both benefit and burden for full evaluation. (0-4 points) 
  3.  What areas of the city will be impacted by your proposal? (0-4 points)  
  4.  How does this proposal impact your department’s capacity to engage with community (externally) and/or City staff (internally)? (0-4 points)  
  5. Describe how this proposed supplemental/reduction contributes to your department’s ability to advance racial and social equity. (0-4 points)  

The supplementals and reductions that are proposed for the FY 2027 budget were then evaluated by the Office of Race and Social Equity (RASE) to develop a scored product on a five-point scale from being “highly likely” to lead to more equitable community, staff, or departmental outcomes to “no specific connection to increasing or maintaining current equity outcomes for community, staff, or department.” The aim is that the City will continue to advance its commitment to ALL Alexandria through equitable decision making in budget, policy, practice, procedure, and culture. Five scales (highly likely, likely, maintains, very unlikely, no specific connection) are created based on the following criteria:  
 

  • Highly Likely to lead to more equitable community, staff, or departmental outcomes (17-20 points)  
  • Likely to contribute to increased equitable community, staff, or departmental outcomes (13-16 points) 
  • Maintains a current level of operation and outcomes related to equity for community, staff, and department (9- 12 points)  
  • Very Unlikely and could exacerbate or perpetuate inequities for community, staff, or departmental outcomes (4- 8 points)  
  • No specific connection to increasing or maintaining current equity outcomes for community, staff, or department (0-3 points) 

Budget equity scores of all the other supplementals and reductions that are included in the FY 2027 proposed budget are provided in the proposed budget document starting on page 2.4.  

 

 

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