Richmond City Council Budget Work Session - April 15, 2026
Richmond City Council Budget Work Session - April 15, 2026
The Richmond City Council held a budget work session on April 15, 2026, to review proposed text and capital improvement plan (CIP) amendments. No formal decisions were made; further discussion and voting were scheduled for the following Monday, April 20, 2026. The deadline for council members to submit co-patronage requests was extended to Thursday, April 16, at 5 p.m.
Discussion Items
- RPS Audit and Virtual Academy Costs: Council debated a proposed amendment to fund an independent audit of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) at a cost of $175,000. The amendment would require RPS to allocate $175,000 for a third-party audit contracted through the city auditor's office. Additionally, a significant discrepancy emerged regarding the cost of the Richmond Virtual Academy: council staff initially estimated $1.6 million, but RPS later informed them the actual cost is $3.2 million. Council members expressed concerns about the lack of transparency and requested written documentation from RPS justifying the higher figure.
- Severance for Senior Executives: A text amendment seeks to strike new language in the pay plan that would allow up to one year of severance for senior executives at the discretion of the appointing authority. Council members questioned whether this would affect existing employment agreements, and city administration clarified that no current contracts would be compromised.
- Affordable Housing Trust Fund: A text amendment aims to fix language to ensure the affordable housing trust fund receives funding as previously agreed. City administration expressed support and requested clarity on the final language.
- Social Services FTEs: An amendment from Councilwoman Gibson requests five new full-time equivalent positions for the Department of Social Services, costing approximately $460,000. The city noted an 85% state reimbursement rate, reducing the city's share.
- Transportation and Security for After-School Programs: Council discussed a $428,000 request for transportation and security at middle schools for after-school programs, down from an earlier estimate of $700,000. Council members requested documentation of the revised cost and an explanation of RPS's plan B if funding was not provided.
- CIP Amendments: Several capital projects were reviewed, including:
- Forest Hill Avenue traffic study (originally $500,000, but DPW stated $100,000 is sufficient and they are already working with VDOT).
- West Over Hills Elementary School external facility redesign (funding cannot come from state/federal grants for public right-of-way; would need separate coordination with RPS).
- Citywide school safety study recommendations ($500,000 to implement projects at eight schools identified in a prior study; DPW noted that some work may already be covered by existing grants).
- Eliminating new funding for gas new business ($500,000 not needed in FY27 due to existing balance; funds cannot be repurposed for other uses per utility restrictions).
- East End early childhood and child care center development (redirecting approximately $1.5 million from a previously allocated teen center fund; city budget director noted that CIP dollars cannot be used for general fund operations, so more detail is needed).
- Splash pad at Broad Rock Sports Complex (request to restore a feature omitted from original park plans; cost not specified).
- Lights for TJ High School football field ($250,000 commitment to leverage matching grants; council requested inventory of other schools lacking lighting).
- Transparent street safety spending (amendment to provide granular breakdown of $32 million in complete streets funds; DPW offered periodic presentations and a dashboard).
- Funding the People's Budget (participatory budgeting) in FY28 (five-year plan currently does not include the planned $5 million; council and administration discussed aligning processes).
- Pedestrian crossings on Chamberlain Avenue (councilwoman Gibson proposed $100,000 for safety improvements; transportation director recommended waiting for a BRT study).
- Bike parking on Brookland Park Boulevard (existing $50,000 line item for parking; transportation department already planning bike parking in that area).
- Commonwealth Attorney's Office Budget: The Commonwealth Attorney raised concerns about a $241,000 reduction in the proposed budget. City administration explained it was a technical adjustment based on personnel calculations, not a cut, and that no positions were eliminated. Council members sought to restore the funding if needed and scheduled a meeting for further discussion.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken; all decisions on amendments were deferred to the council's next meeting on Monday, April 20, 2026.
- Council directed staff to obtain written documentation from RPS regarding the cost of the Virtual Academy ($3.2 million) and the transportation/security costs for after-school programs ($428,000).
- Council requested an inventory of schools lacking athletic field lighting and a list of schools included in the recent safety study (eight schools: McLenry, Patrick Henry, Swansboro Elementary, Thomas Boushall Middle, River City Middle, Richmond High School for the Arts, Lucille Brown Middle, Huguenot High).
- The deadline for council members to co-patron amendments was extended to Thursday, April 16, 2026, at 5 p.m.
- Council staff will continue to identify available funding sources, including the gap grant program, to support amendments.
- The city assessor's request for a customer service representative (funded by a transfer from the council chief of staff office) appeared to have consensus and was expected to pass on Monday.
- Councilwoman Trammell announced that tax relief application forms for the elderly and disabled are now available at city hall, following coordination with the CAO's office.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, everyone. The city council's budget work session will now come to order. Madam Clerk or Mr. Clark, if you would provide the emergency evacuation plan announcement upon activation of the emergency alarm signal, all persons should immediately exit the building. Please use the exits to the left or right front of the council chamber or the east or west stairwell outside the rear doors of the chamber. Do not use elevators or escalators. After exiting the building, security will direct everyone down 9th Street to the assembly area located inside the former public safety building parking lot. Able persons should assist visually and hearing impaired visitors with exiting the building. And for the record, Madam President, all members of council are in attendance this afternoon except for counselor lynch. Thank you, Mr. Clark. We will now have our council chief of staff, Mr. Warren, provide the protocol for today's work session and then get underway. Yes, may I please the council, RJ Warren, Council Chief of Staff. Thank you all for being here today. It was anticipated that we were probably going to begin some decision makings today, but because you all work so well on these budget work sessions so far and announcing your amendments last week. We actually, I believe, have time for you all still to review, analyze and discuss some of these amendments before making any decisions, which can occur next week. And before you and post it online is the most updated version of the proposed amendments submitted by council members. They have been updated to reflect uh co-patronage, um, additional information provided to us by city administration or involved parties. We went ahead and proactively combined certain amendments that uh were put forward by multiple members. And I'm going to go through these in a moment, not one by one, but just note some highlights that I think need I need to bring to your attention afterwards. Uh, we'll be available to answer any immediate questions from you all after that. Um, I will then proceed through um uh specifically the text amendments and the capital the CIP amendments uh to see if you all have any specific questions on that and to invite city administration at that time to address uh text and CIP amendments uh to share information they have on the goals of those amendments. Mr. Warren, would you also re-emphasize the uh opportunity in terms of extended time for submitting patronage for papers? Yes. Um, because we have more time to make decisions on these amendments, the deadline to submit uh a request to co-patron any item has been extended to this Thursday, the 16th at 5 p.m. You just need to inform me, and that will be updated. And we hope to have a finalized document uh by Friday to put online and to provide to members and the public for you all to make decisions on on Monday. And um, and then you know, if you all have any questions, we're not gonna necessarily we're gonna put the clock up to to be mindful of time, but uh I will be available in Soul City Administration. Um Thank you. Yes, so to proceed through uh if you can put that on line, sir. Thank you very much. Um, on the proposed text amendments, this is just something to note. Uh the uh RPS audit um for funding uh for funding RPS audit independently. Um it is both a text amendment and a general fund amendment uh because uh it has been estimated that a cost for this item would be roughly 175,000 that would be needed. Uh so that has been updated. And to note on page three of the first amendment, the um establishment of a dedicated mail line item. We've been informed by city administration that item is already being currently addressed in the budget and will be as well next year. The um third item, I just want to note a customer service representative to the city assessor's office to be allocated from the office of the council chief of staff. That seems to be receiving um consensus amongst you all, and I don't see any issues with that provid going forward. Another update. Let me go to page five here. And for the uh amendment forward by Ms. Trammell for the Richmond Virtual Academy. The thing I just want to note from council staff, we updated the the number of what that might cost. Our initial analysis had that at 1.6 million. We've been provided updated numbers from RPS that for that specific program, it would require 3.2 million. So that number has been increased.
openpublica.com