City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: DECEMBER 4, 2025
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JAMES F. PARAJON, CITY MANAGER
DOCKET TITLE:
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City Council Impasse Resolution Hearing: City of Alexandria and Alexandria Chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association.
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ISSUE: Consideration of the bargaining positions at impasse between the City of Alexandria (City) and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association (SSPBA) resulting from their negotiations over a successor collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
RECOMMENDATION: The City Council render a decision on each area of the bargaining impasse between the parties.
BACKGROUND: At a public hearing on April 17, 2021, the Alexandria City Council voted unanimously to adopt a public employee collective bargaining ordinance (Attachment 1). The authority for Virginia municipalities to undertake collective bargaining was enabled by new state legislation that took effect May 1, 2021. Alexandria was the first locality in Virginia to authorize collective bargaining under this new state law. The City’s ordinance authorizes exclusive representatives of bargaining units to negotiate, among other things, wages, leave, insurance, and retirement plans presently made available under city authority. However, the ordinance and state law make clear that any agreement reached by collective bargaining is subject to appropriation of funds by the City Council.
The City and the SSPBA (together, the “Parties”) negotiated an initial collective bargaining agreement effective for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 through FY 2026 - from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026. The Parties are currently engaged in the negotiation of a successor collective bargaining agreement covering FY 2027, FY 2028, and FY 2029, to be effective from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029.
Bargaining for the successor contract began in April 2025 with the adoption of ground rules governing the negotiation process. The Parties exchanged proposals on mandatory subjects of bargaining, including wages, benefits, and working conditions. Through this process, the Parties reached tentative agreement on 43 articles. However, the Parties ultimately reached impasse on seven (7) articles. Pursuant to City Code Section 2-5-80, the Parties entered the mediation, dispute resolution, and a factfinding process. A factfinder was jointly selected to conduct a hearing and issue a non-binding advisory decision with recommendations on the disputed articles. The factfinder’s advisory recommendations are included as Attachment 2. As permitted by ordinance, the Parties continued to negotiate and reached agreement on five of the seven articles. The remaining articles now at impasse include the following: Pay Scale, Pay Parity, Longevity Bonus, Leave, Officer Health and Longevity, Retirement and Reopener Procedures.
The final stage of the impasse process is for City Council to hold a hearing and render a decision on each article of continuing impasse, as required by Section 2-5-80(a)(10). Each party will have 30 minutes to present its last written offer and explain its position to Council. Council will then vote on each unresolved article, establishing the City’s final bargaining position on these items.
Pursuant to the procedures set forth in City Code sections 2-5-79 and 2-5-80, the City must follow structured, time-bound steps both to finalize collective bargaining agreements and to resolve disputes that may arise during negotiations. These provisions serve two key purposes:
a. To ensure fiscal accountability by requiring City Council review and affirm its good-faith commitment to appropriate any required funding before an agreement becomes effective;
b. To provide a structured, time-bound process for resolving impasses so that negotiations remain aligned with the City’s budget cycle.
Process
An impasse hearing before City Council is a policy-making session, not a trial, arbitration, or evidentiary proceeding. Once the factfinder issues recommendations, the City and the exclusive bargaining representative are provided with a 14-day period to continue negotiations. At the conclusion of that period, the City Manager submits to Council:
• The City’s last written bargaining position on each unresolved issue,
• The Union’s last written bargaining position on each unresolved issue, and
• The factfinder’s written recommendations.
At the impasse hearing, each party, the City and the exclusive bargaining representative, receives 30 minutes to present and justify its final positions. Council may ask clarifying questions but does not take testimony, receive evidence, or reopen the bargaining record. This is a legislative function in which Council is determining the City’s position on the remaining contract issues.
Following the presentations, Council considers each unresolved impasse issue individually. For each issue, a Councilmember moves adoption of the City’s last offer, the Union’s last offer, or modified language consistent with Council’s policy direction. Council votes by roll call, and the City Clerk records the action in the minutes. This action establishes Council’s policy direction and constitutes the City’s final bargaining position on the impasse matters.
After Council renders its decisions, the City Labor Relations Officer will prepare revised contract language incorporating Council’s determinations on each impasse article. This draft will be presented to the exclusive bargaining representative for review. If the representative agrees to the language, the result is a tentative agreement. If a tentative agreement is not ratified by the bargaining unit, the Parties will reengage in negotiations. The Parties remain subject to their current collective bargaining agreement until superseded by a new one.
The exclusive bargaining representative will then conduct its required ratification process. Upon ratification, the Office of Management and Budget will prepare the fiscal impact study required under Sec. 2-5-79. The fiscal impact study is then presented to Council at the next available meeting, at which Council considers and adopts a resolution expressing its good-faith commitment to appropriate the necessary funding, subject to actual appropriation during the City’s normal budget process.
Only after completion of these steps, Council’s funding resolution, the City Manager’s signature, and the Union’s ratification and signature, does the collective bargaining agreement become effective and enforceable under Article E.
The following articles remain at impasse:
ARTICLE CITY LBFO UNION LBFO
Wages Cost: $8 million over three years Cost: $10.2 million over three years
Longevity Bonus Cost: $424,800 over three years Cost: $885,000 over three years
Pay Parity See factfinder’s report See factfinder’s report
Leave See factfinder’s report See factfinder’s report
Officer Health See factfinder’s report See factfinder’s report
Retirement See factfinder’s report See factfinder’s report
Reopener Procedure See factfinder’s report See factfinder’s report
FISCAL IMPACT: The Council’s decision will result in:
1. If it accepts the City’s LBFOs: $8.4 million total three-year wages and longevity bonuses in New CBA
2. If it accepts the Union’s LBFOs: $11.1 million total in three-year wages and longevity bonuses in New CBA
The fiscal impact of the article at impasse is not the full fiscal impact of the contract, which include articles to which the parties have tentatively agreed. The City Council must still adopt a fiscal impact statement as required under Sec. 2-5-79, and as noted above.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Ordinance No. 5336, approved April 17, 2021
Attachment 2: Factfinder’s Report and Recommendations to Resolve the Impasse Involving the
Police Bargaining Unit of November 15, 2025.
Attachment 3: City’s Post Fact Finding Wage Last Best and Final Offer, 12.3.25
Attachment 4: SSPBA’s Post Fact Finding Wage Last Best and Final Offer, 12.3.25
STAFF:
Cheran Ivery, City Attorney
Alethea Predeoux, Deputy City Manager
Jane Chistensen, Deputy City Manager
Yon Lambert, Deputy City Manager
Meghan S. Roberts, Deputy City Attorney
Ernesto Tamayo, Chief Labor Relations Officer
Morgan Routt, Director, Office of Management and Budget
Tarrick McGuire, Chief, Alexandria Police Department