City Council during Monday’s meeting that included adoption of the FY26 budget. (Screenshot)
While not as adjusted as some members had wanted, a divided Richmond City Council adopted a slightly revised budget for next fiscal year while committing to make improvements to the process next go-round.
Council on Monday voted 6-2 to adopt the $3 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, following a final public hearing in which several speakers expressed disappointment and desire for more funding for their respective causes.
Council newcomers Sarah Abubaker and Kenya Gibson voted against the budget, reiterating their frustrations about the process and the amount of time allowed for them to review and attempt to revise it. Councilmember Reva Trammell was absent from the meeting.
The $3 billion spending plan keeps real estate taxes at $1.20 per $100 of assessed value and includes a $1.05 billion general fund, a 5.5% increase over the current general fund. It also includes across-the-board pay raises for city employees that Abubaker and Gibson had scrutinized.
Before the vote, Abubaker said her vote in opposition was a rejection of the process, not of what was included in the spending plan.
“The process misses the mark,” Abubaker said, adding that council was only able to adjust $1.9 million of the $3 billion budget. “My vote is not personal, it’s structural.”
Council’s longer-serving members acknowledged frustrations with the process and agreed to work to make improvements for the next budget cycle. But they said voting against the budget was not the way to go about it.
“We have come a long way. This budget doesn’t have everything we want. But there is a lot of good in this budget,” Vice President Katherine Jordan said.
Contending that a vote against the budget hurts the citizens they’re trying to help, Jordan added, “We are in this together as a city.”
“This is a fragile economic time. I’m proud of the things we were able to achieve, even if it wasn’t everything,” she said.
President Cynthia Newbille reiterated that council had committed during the process to starting the process earlier and making other improvements to it.
“We know we can and we will do better,” Newbille said.
The budget includes nearly two dozen amendments that councilmembers worked into it during a series of workshops over the past several weeks.
They include increases in funding from the original proposal for several outside agencies and nonprofits, including Presbyterian Homes & Family Services ($480,000), NextUp RVA ($350,000), Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia ($250,000), and the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and Southside Community Development & Housing Corp. ($200,000 each).
Those and other increases were offset with reductions in funding, including $800,000 from the Office of Community Wealth Building that had been allocated for four vacant positions and for the Richmond Resilience Initiative, a pandemic-era guaranteed income pilot program that provides $500 a month for working families who don’t qualify for benefits assistance and do not make a living wage.
Other reductions included about $325,000 from the public works department that had been allocated for three vacant positions and neighborhood signage maintenance; about the same amount from the economic development department that had been earmarked for consulting services for development projects; and $250,000 from the neighborhood and community services department that was to go toward life skills programming.
Councilmembers had considered additional adjustments, including proposals from Abubaker and Gibson that were aimed at reducing pay hikes for the city’s top earners. They argued that the plan should not include across-the-board pay raises for employees while reducing funding for nonprofits and other council priorities, and Abubaker called for smaller or no raises for most nonunion employees with salaries above $150,000.
Mayor Danny Avula responds to questions from Councilmember Sarah Abubaker and attendees at her district meeting last month. (BizSense file photo)
That suggestion and others were met with pushback by city administrators and Mayor Danny Avula, who maintained that the raises of 3.25% or more are needed to keep the city competitive with salaries of comparable positions in state government or neighboring counties. Newbille also has said the compensation would maintain a minimum wage of $20 an hour and meet obligations under the city’s collective bargaining agreements.
Abubaker and Gibson also were critical of the process to review the budget proposal, arguing that council should be given more time to review it. The city’s budget calendar put the mayor’s presentation in late March.
During a final budget workshop prior to Monday’s meeting, Gibson told her colleagues: “I am not naïve to think that change comes overnight. I get that.”
“There’s not enough time to do the work of truly analyzing a billion-dollar budget thoughtfully. We had 13 days to review this 600-page document, ask questions and make recommendations, and the assignment councilmembers were given was that for every add we suggested, we also suggest a cut…. Ninety percent of every suggestion we made, we were told no,” Gibson said.
“We have to make difficult choices, but in order for us to get there, we have to design a system that will work. I can’t tell why this process has been so different, but it seems a no-brainer that we would start this process by March 1.”
The budget is built in anticipation of a planned alignment over the next two fiscal years of the city’s budgeting and real estate reassessment schedules, which are currently about a half-year off. City officials have wanted to advance the start of property reassessments to have that data in hand when making budgeting decisions.
But the rescheduling will require a freeze in assessments from FY26 to FY27, resulting in little to no increase in real estate tax revenue the following fiscal year.
The budget raises salaries for eligible general employees by 3.25% or more. It also puts over $18 million toward investments in city staff, such as transitioning to the Virginia Retirement System, requiring living wages, engaging with organized labor and improving benefit packages.
Funding for Richmond Public Schools is set to increase by $9.6 million to nearly $249 million, a 4% year-to-year increase that the city said contributes to a 64% increase since FY17. The school system’s overall FY26 spending plan, which includes funding from federal and other sources, totals $524 million, down from $529 million this year.
The city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan is set to total nearly $550 million, with more than $60 million to fund improvements to the city’s water treatment plant, which had a failure in January that caused a dayslong service outage across the city and elsewhere in the region.
In light of that outage, $38 million in improvements are allocated for next year specifically, which the city described as a “significant increase in funding.” Another $207 million is planned in the CIP for water transmission and distribution system improvements.
Other big-ticket items in the city budget include nearly $50 million in investments for housing, including $10 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $21 million for street safety enhancements; $11 million for the planned Fall Line Trail; over $10 million for the Shockoe Project commemorative campus; and $6 million for public-private investments for Brown’s Island.
Also during Monday’s meeting, council voted to appoint RJ Warren as council’s chief of staff. Warren has served as deputy city clerk since 2019 and has 18 years of public service experience, the city said in a release.
City Council during Monday’s meeting that included adoption of the FY26 budget. (Screenshot)
While not as adjusted as some members had wanted, a divided Richmond City Council adopted a slightly revised budget for next fiscal year while committing to make improvements to the process next go-round.
Council on Monday voted 6-2 to adopt the $3 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, following a final public hearing in which several speakers expressed disappointment and desire for more funding for their respective causes.
Council newcomers Sarah Abubaker and Kenya Gibson voted against the budget, reiterating their frustrations about the process and the amount of time allowed for them to review and attempt to revise it. Councilmember Reva Trammell was absent from the meeting.
The $3 billion spending plan keeps real estate taxes at $1.20 per $100 of assessed value and includes a $1.05 billion general fund, a 5.5% increase over the current general fund. It also includes across-the-board pay raises for city employees that Abubaker and Gibson had scrutinized.
Before the vote, Abubaker said her vote in opposition was a rejection of the process, not of what was included in the spending plan.
“The process misses the mark,” Abubaker said, adding that council was only able to adjust $1.9 million of the $3 billion budget. “My vote is not personal, it’s structural.”
Council’s longer-serving members acknowledged frustrations with the process and agreed to work to make improvements for the next budget cycle. But they said voting against the budget was not the way to go about it.
“We have come a long way. This budget doesn’t have everything we want. But there is a lot of good in this budget,” Vice President Katherine Jordan said.
Contending that a vote against the budget hurts the citizens they’re trying to help, Jordan added, “We are in this together as a city.”
“This is a fragile economic time. I’m proud of the things we were able to achieve, even if it wasn’t everything,” she said.
President Cynthia Newbille reiterated that council had committed during the process to starting the process earlier and making other improvements to it.
“We know we can and we will do better,” Newbille said.
The budget includes nearly two dozen amendments that councilmembers worked into it during a series of workshops over the past several weeks.
They include increases in funding from the original proposal for several outside agencies and nonprofits, including Presbyterian Homes & Family Services ($480,000), NextUp RVA ($350,000), Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia ($250,000), and the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and Southside Community Development & Housing Corp. ($200,000 each).
Those and other increases were offset with reductions in funding, including $800,000 from the Office of Community Wealth Building that had been allocated for four vacant positions and for the Richmond Resilience Initiative, a pandemic-era guaranteed income pilot program that provides $500 a month for working families who don’t qualify for benefits assistance and do not make a living wage.
Other reductions included about $325,000 from the public works department that had been allocated for three vacant positions and neighborhood signage maintenance; about the same amount from the economic development department that had been earmarked for consulting services for development projects; and $250,000 from the neighborhood and community services department that was to go toward life skills programming.
Councilmembers had considered additional adjustments, including proposals from Abubaker and Gibson that were aimed at reducing pay hikes for the city’s top earners. They argued that the plan should not include across-the-board pay raises for employees while reducing funding for nonprofits and other council priorities, and Abubaker called for smaller or no raises for most nonunion employees with salaries above $150,000.
Mayor Danny Avula responds to questions from Councilmember Sarah Abubaker and attendees at her district meeting last month. (BizSense file photo)
That suggestion and others were met with pushback by city administrators and Mayor Danny Avula, who maintained that the raises of 3.25% or more are needed to keep the city competitive with salaries of comparable positions in state government or neighboring counties. Newbille also has said the compensation would maintain a minimum wage of $20 an hour and meet obligations under the city’s collective bargaining agreements.
Abubaker and Gibson also were critical of the process to review the budget proposal, arguing that council should be given more time to review it. The city’s budget calendar put the mayor’s presentation in late March.
During a final budget workshop prior to Monday’s meeting, Gibson told her colleagues: “I am not naïve to think that change comes overnight. I get that.”
“There’s not enough time to do the work of truly analyzing a billion-dollar budget thoughtfully. We had 13 days to review this 600-page document, ask questions and make recommendations, and the assignment councilmembers were given was that for every add we suggested, we also suggest a cut…. Ninety percent of every suggestion we made, we were told no,” Gibson said.
“We have to make difficult choices, but in order for us to get there, we have to design a system that will work. I can’t tell why this process has been so different, but it seems a no-brainer that we would start this process by March 1.”
The budget is built in anticipation of a planned alignment over the next two fiscal years of the city’s budgeting and real estate reassessment schedules, which are currently about a half-year off. City officials have wanted to advance the start of property reassessments to have that data in hand when making budgeting decisions.
But the rescheduling will require a freeze in assessments from FY26 to FY27, resulting in little to no increase in real estate tax revenue the following fiscal year.
The budget raises salaries for eligible general employees by 3.25% or more. It also puts over $18 million toward investments in city staff, such as transitioning to the Virginia Retirement System, requiring living wages, engaging with organized labor and improving benefit packages.
Funding for Richmond Public Schools is set to increase by $9.6 million to nearly $249 million, a 4% year-to-year increase that the city said contributes to a 64% increase since FY17. The school system’s overall FY26 spending plan, which includes funding from federal and other sources, totals $524 million, down from $529 million this year.
The city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan is set to total nearly $550 million, with more than $60 million to fund improvements to the city’s water treatment plant, which had a failure in January that caused a dayslong service outage across the city and elsewhere in the region.
In light of that outage, $38 million in improvements are allocated for next year specifically, which the city described as a “significant increase in funding.” Another $207 million is planned in the CIP for water transmission and distribution system improvements.
Other big-ticket items in the city budget include nearly $50 million in investments for housing, including $10 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; $21 million for street safety enhancements; $11 million for the planned Fall Line Trail; over $10 million for the Shockoe Project commemorative campus; and $6 million for public-private investments for Brown’s Island.
Also during Monday’s meeting, council voted to appoint RJ Warren as council’s chief of staff. Warren has served as deputy city clerk since 2019 and has 18 years of public service experience, the city said in a release.
Disfunction on top on disfunction. This is why everyone hates paying tax.
Dysfunction**
I like that you felt compelled to correct a stranger’s spelling. Good for you!
I expect to see an across the board increase in real estate assessments which will Net the city an additional $50M+ this fiscal year. All the talk of returning tax revenue to the residents will be out the window, as the government finds ways to spend and waste every dime we give them and will need even more next year. two steps forward and one step back.
This will be case in the cities until the GA finds a way to consolidate cities within counties and eliminate so much of the waste of duplicate service providers.
So they’re reducing funding to Public Works after that water crisis?
How are they worried about $150k+ government salaries being competitive?
Can we please get sidewalks in Scott’s Addition? It’s the fastest growing and most public facing portion of the city, and we make people tromp through mud to go spend money.
I didn’t see mention of reduction in public works funding. Instead it reads: “ The city’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan is set to total nearly $550 million, with more than $60 million to fund improvements to the city’s water treatment plant, which had a failure in January that caused a dayslong service outage across the city and elsewhere in the region. In light of that outage, $38 million in improvements are allocated for next year specifically, which the city described as a “significant increase in funding.” Another $207 million is planned in the CIP for water transmission and distribution system… Read more »
“Other reductions included about $325,000 from the public works department that had been allocated for three vacant positions and neighborhood signage maintenance.”
Like the 600 page document, understanding probably depends on the specific paragraph you’re reading.
People would be more at peace with city spending if city services, especially the finance department, weren’t such a disaster
And what happens if the budget proposal were to be defeated by a Council vote? An even worse process.