Hampton City Council Special Session on FY 2026 Budget – May 7, 2025
Hampton City Council Special Session: FY 2026 Budget Public Hearing and Ordinance Introduction
On May 7, 2025, the Hampton City Council held a special session at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers to conduct the second public hearing on the City Manager's Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2026, to introduce tax and fee ordinances, and to advance the budget package for final adoption. All seven council members were present. The meeting included several proclamations, a presentation on budget adjustments resulting from the Governor's line-item veto, public testimony from two citizens, and a unanimous vote to advance the ordinances to the May 14, 2025 meeting.
Proclamations & Recognitions
- World Bee Day (May 20): Mayor Gray read a proclamation recognizing the importance of bees and pollinators. Representatives from Bee City USA Hampton and the Clean City Commission were present.
- Nurses Week (May 6–12): Proclamation honoring registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, presented earlier at Sentara Careplex.
- Municipal Clerks Week: Mayor thanked Clerk Katherine Glass and staff.
- Public Service Week: Acknowledgment of city employees.
- Woube Gebre: Recognized for induction into the Hampton Roads Sports Media Hall of Fame.
Budget Presentation & Proposed Adjustments
City Manager Mary Bunting and Interim Budget Director Angelique Shenk presented adjustments needed after Governor Youngkin line-item vetoed the Safer Communities and Community Violence Reduction Grant ($2.5 million) on May 2, 2025. To preserve three critical violence interruption programs, staff recommended shifting funding from grants to the general fund. Programs to be maintained at current levels:
- Hopeful Hampton Divergent Program (for youth ages ~13–25)
- Violence Interrupters Program (mentorship by formerly incarcerated individuals)
- Housing Stabilization Resources (partnership with Riverside Hand-in-Hand)
Proposed reductions/eliminations to balance the budget:
- Eliminate Main Branch Library Manager position (filled by Library Director in dual role)
- Reduce cemetery maintenance grants by half (from $172,000 to $86,000) – affects 18 cemeteries/44 acres
- Eliminate 10 part-time summer intern positions (WAE)
- Reduce funding for Wonder Walk (event continues without expansion)
- Eliminate special event advertising (absorbed by internal marketing)
- Reduce contingency funds by approximately $36,800
Other tax and fee changes proposed (effective July 1, 2025):
- Real estate tax rate: decrease from $1.15 to $1.14 per $100 assessed value
- Courthouse security fee: increase from $10 to $20 per case
- Sewer user fee: increase from $2.38 to $2.45 per 100 cubic feet
- Sewer surcharge fee: increase from $2.12 to $4.79 per 100 cubic feet
- Stormwater fee (commercial and residential): increase from $11.83 to $12.83 per ERU per month
Public Comments & Testimony
Two speakers addressed the Council:
- Aaron Weaver: Proposed a real estate tax rate of $1.13 per $100 assessed value, citing the I Value projection model that would generate ~$3.8 million for schools. Questioned why capital projects like downtown sidewalks ($7.2 million), blighted property funds ($465,000), and school capital ($1 million) could not be reduced to fund tax relief.
- Brenda Marks: Argued that city real estate assessments have increased over 50% since 2020 (backed by city and newspaper documents). Suggested repairing Mill Point Park stage ($250,000) instead of rebuilding, and using savings to cover the grant shortfall and lower the tax rate to $1.13. Criticized the city's failure to provide financial statements from the Aquaplex contractor since October 2022.
City Manager's Responses
City Manager Bunting clarified:
- Ms. Marks' 50% figure includes new construction, not just reassessments; the average resident's property has not increased by that amount.
- Financial documents for the Aquaplex will be provided as soon as they are separated from year-end closeout materials.
- The Aquaplex was always expected to require operating subsidies; the city committed to a community pool after closing the Old Hampton Community Center pool.
- Capital projects funded by bonds cannot legally be used for tax rate reductions or salary increases; lowering debt service permanently would reduce future capital investments.
- The school funding formula (61.83% of residential, personal property, and utility tax revenue) is an agreement; schools constrained their budget to the allocated amount.
Key Outcomes
- Introduction of 23 ordinances (items 2–24 on the agenda) covering service district taxes, real estate and personal property tax rates, sewer and stormwater fees, courthouse security fees, and appropriation ordinances for all city funds.
- Motion to advance the proposed tax rate, fee, and appropriation ordinances to the May 14, 2025 meeting for final consideration and adoption was made by Councilmember Ferebee, seconded by Vice Mayor Brown, and passed unanimously (7–0).
- The budget will be adopted on May 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM; changes to the real estate tax rate, if approved, take effect for December 5, 2025 bills, and personal property tax rates take effect January 1, 2026.
- Staff will explore additional options Council may wish to consider before final adoption.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening and welcome to the Hampton City Council uh special meeting, uh meeting pertaining to the uh eventual adoption of our operating budget and the public hearings around that one. And so with that, I want to ask the clerk to call a roll, please. Councilman Bowman, present, Vice Mayor Brown. Here. Councilwoman Campbell, present, Councilwoman Dareby. Present, Councilwoman Harper, present, Councilwoman Mudler, present. Mayor Gray. Present. And our invocation and pledge of allegiance will be uh offered by the Vice Mayor Stephen Brown. So please uh stand and join us. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Oh Lord, this is the day you made you say we should rejoice in and be glad. And thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to serve in this day as and serve this great city we call Hampton and City, which we love. We pray tonight, God, for deliberations. We pray tonight, God for civility. We pray tonight, God for peace and collaboration, working with our citizens and also folks on this dice tonight. We pause now to remember those who are first responders, those who given the ultimate sacrifice and have given their lives for this country, our veterans, our senior citizens. I pray, God, as we deliberate over the budget and the very difficult decision we have to make. I pray God that you give us wisdom to make the right decisions. And God, that we would honor you and do all things decently and in order. And so tonight we pray peace over our nation, peace over our world, pray for the uh those who are upcoming leaders in our community that they will see leadership as a noble ambition. And so we give your name the praise. We give you the glory and the honor, and all of God's people said together, Amen. Okay, so April, the month of uh May, uh, as well as April, there were quite a few uh proclamations recognizing special days in our community and across the country, but uh this evening I had uh on the mayor's comments, I have a couple of uh proclamations and recognitions on special days this month, so that I'm gonna read these on the mayor's comments. Normally I would do these under a different section on the agenda of uh presentations, proclamations, and awards, but that is not on the agenda tonight because uh this is a special meeting. So I'm gonna take the uh uh point of privilege of doing these on the mayor's uh comments tonight. And the first one I'm gonna start with is in recognition of World B Day in the City of Hampton. That's World B B E E Day. And whereas the United Nations designated May 20th as World B Day to raise awareness of the vital role bees and other pollinators play in our ecosystem and food security. Whereas bees and other pollinators are facing numerous threats, including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide use, which are endangering the populations and the food supply they help to produce. And whereas the city of Hampton recognizes the importance of protecting these essential creatures and the ecosystem they support, whereas the city of Hampton is committed to promoting awareness and action to support bees and other pollinators, and whereas the City of Hampton received its B City USA affiliate designation in 2019, and whereas since his acception, the B City USA Hampton Committee has participated in numerous outreach opportunities, created a pollinator certification program for Hampton residents, and was featured on the cover of the B City USA 2023 annual report. And whereas in 2024, B City USA's Hampton team has hosted webinars, participated in events, and created a keep America Beautiful grant-funded pollinating garden at the Bluebird Gap Farm. And whereas it is fitting for the City of Hampton to acknowledge World B Day. Now, therefore, I, James A. Gray Jr., mayor of the on behalf of the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby recognize May 20th, 25 as World B Day in the City of Hampton, City of Hampton, Virginia, and call upon all citizens of Hampton to join me in recognizing this important cause and witness whereof I've hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the City of Hampton, Virginia, to be a fixed this seventh day of May 2025, signed James A. Gray Jr. Mayor. And we have some people uh here this evening who are involved with um the B program here in the City of Hampton. I'd like to ask them to come up when I call their names. Uh uh Chris Grady, um Hampton Clean City Commissioner Vice Chair, Chris, come on up, uh April Resuver, and if I didn't pronounce your name right, April, you can let me know that. And then uh Al Banwell, B City USA Hampton Chair, uh Cynthia Fazin, uh with our Clean City uh Public Works Department, uh McCoy Logan Public Works Clean City, Arjun Novak, Public Works Clean City, and uh Marty Wood, B City USA Hampton Committee Chair. So why don't you come on right out down front and uh Cynthia, if you want to just maybe make a few brief comments or introduce what uh all of our team is doing with regard to bees in our community, I feel free to do that. You can actually go to the mic, Cynthia, so that you can be heard. So I have a chance. What did I say? Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh, first of all, Mayor Gray, Council members, we thank you so much for this proclamation for recognizing May 20th as 40B Dave, along with the UN and several other cities throughout the United States. This was for I started as a collaboration with the City of Newport News. Uh, however, they had to move forward, and we pressed on with this.
openpublica.com