OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Virginia Beach City Council Financial Review and Parks Master Plan Update - December 3, 2025

City Council Meetings — Wednesday, December 3, 2025
BodyVirginia Beach, Virginia
SessionCity Council Meetings
DateWednesday, December 3, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:10:52

Transcript — Verbatim
0:08

One welcome all.

0:09

We're about ready to get going with our informal session.

0:15

All right.

0:15

So Mr.

0:16

Mayor, members of council.

0:18

As you all know, towards the end of every uh calendar year, we tend to have um overview of the city's finances to including a review of the city's debt capacity.

0:28

So this presentation will be given primarily by Davenport with the support of our finance department.

0:34

And they're going to give the city and the public an overview of the city's debt profile and also the debt capacity.

0:39

But before we get going, Monica Krosky, Deputy City Manager, will kick off and introduce our new finance deputy director, Nikki Griffith.

0:47

Thank you for letting me do that.

0:48

But I think it's important that we give her a proper introduction to the city.

0:55

And we are so excited that she's on our team.

0:59

Nikki is a certified finance public officer.

1:03

GFOA, which is the government finance officers association, is like 20,000 members and more strong.

1:11

And Nikki served on their debt committee for almost six years.

1:15

So getting to see a snapshot nationally of whether it's schools, cities, counties, states, what are the financial strategies they're using.

1:26

We got her from City of Chesapeake, where she was the assistant director for debt and strategic planning.

1:31

And she did a lot of cool things there.

1:34

One notable thing is that when Chesapeake, you might recall, Chesapeake transferred their treasurer's office investment portfolio to their finance department.

1:44

That's like a billion dollar investment portfolio.

1:46

And Nikki was responsible for stabilizing that and standing it up to getting it on good ground.

1:54

Prior to Chesapeake, Nikki worked as the assistant director and the state of Maryland's treasurer's office.

2:02

And then prior to her work at the state level, she worked on the budget side as well as the finance side for some large counties in Maryland.

2:11

Over her career, she's done some really interesting innovative financing schemes.

2:17

Strategies, I'll say innovative financial strategies.

2:21

One of which was a public-private partnership financing strategy, and she actually won a national award for uh that debt strategy.

2:29

Um accounting undergrad and graduated Magnum cum lati from Salisbury uh university, and we are just so so excited that she joined our team.

2:39

You all know Cal in Austin, they're part of Davenport, who serves as our financial advisor.

2:45

Uh so with the addition of Nikki, uh, we feel as though we have a powerhouse finance team working with budget, our members of the finance department and Davenport.

2:55

Um excited that we were able to recruit Nikki.

2:58

So I just wanted to give her background to you all so that you could be a bit more familiar with uh some of her accomplishments over her career.

3:06

Uh so I think Kyle, are you next up to walk us through?

3:10

So just wanted to do that.

3:13

Thank you all.

3:14

Thank you.

3:17

Welcome.

3:18

Thank you, Mr.

3:19

Mayor.

3:19

Um, mayor, members of council, um, city manager, and other esteemed guests in the room here.

3:26

Again, Kyle Laux with Davenport, um, the city's financial advisor.

3:29

Nice to see you as always.

3:31

Um, I think I would echo um Monica's kudos there of Nikki.

3:35

We've actually had the pleasure of working with Nikki in a number of those different local governments.

3:39

Um I believe, don't quote me exactly on this, they're all triple A rated.

3:42

And so as we go into our financial review of the city, which we always appreciate doing for the mayor and council and the public, um, that triple A experience is something that is unique.

3:52

It's very, very valuable, and certainly Nikki brings that to the table.

3:56

Um, and we're excited also again as your outside advisor uh to have her here.

4:01

Um, what we have up on the screen, um, as the manager mentioned is what we call the financial state of the city.

4:07

We do this again about this time of the calendar year.

4:10

It's that time of year where you're wrapping up the audit for last fiscal year that'll be done very soon as we understand.

4:16

Um, really thinking about planning and strategizing for obviously your next budget year, which will be FY27 under leadership, obviously of the manager in your budget office, and then obviously in the middle of this fiscal year.

4:28

So we'd like to come at this time and just give you again that update um as you go into that planning process.

4:37

Um, on page one here, in terms of the introduction, again, just a quick overview in terms of Davenport um headquartered in Virginia have for 160 some years.

4:47

Um importantly, as your advisor, we just like to give this as a little bit of a of a maybe a reminder, so to speak.

4:53

We're not here to lend any money.

5:00

We're not here to do anything other than sit on the same side of the table as you, advising you as a city council, mayor, so forth and so on in these planning processes, through your budget through your CIP, and ultimately when it comes time to borrow money, which we'll talk about at the end of the presentation, how you go about that in the best possible manner.

5:15

And so we just note that on this page here in terms of the introduction.

5:24

We'll start really on page two in terms of what we call here the credit rating overview.

5:30

So you in Virginia Beach enjoy the highest possible credit ratings that any city or local government can achieve.

5:38

And so that is a critical portion of your overall financial management.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation███████████████████████23%
Budget Equity Analysis██████████████████18%
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████16%
Public Engagement█████████████13%
Public Safety████████8%
Capital Improvement Program███████7%
Procedural█████5%
Community Engagement███3%
Personnel Matters█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Virginia Beach City Council Financial Review and Parks Master Plan Update - December 3, 2025

The Virginia Beach City Council met in informal session on December 3, 2025, to receive two major staff presentations: a financial state of the city report covering debt capacity, credit ratings, and fund balance trends; and an update on the Parks Needs Assessment and Development Strategy. Council also conducted a formal session that included a resolution honoring retiring Deputy Police Chief Shane Adams, public hearings, a consent agenda, and appointments. No public speakers signed up for the public hearings or open mic.

Consent Calendar

  • Accepted and appropriated $110,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the FY 2025-26 fire department operating budget, with an $11,000 local match, for fitness and health monitoring equipment.
  • Accepted and appropriated $46,875 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the FY 2025-26 fire department operating budget, with a $15,625 local match, for the fire department's Marine Team.
  • Appropriated $94,000 from the Commonwealth Attorney's Forfeited Assets Special Revenue Fund to the FY 2025-26 Commonwealth Attorney's operating budget for the second phase of the digital case file initiative.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public spoke during the public hearings for proposed tax exemptions (Echoes and Healing, Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, Maverick Learning Centers, Philippine Nurses Association of Virginia, Protecting Paws and Peril, Quality of Life, or the Micro Nonprofit Network).
  • No speakers for the public hearing on amendments to the FY 2025 capital improvement project for flood protection (Lakes, Windsor Woods, Princess Anne, and Plaza projects).
  • No speakers for the public hearing on the lease of city property at 1113 Atlantic Avenue to Witt Cottage.
  • No speakers signed up for open mic.

Discussion Items

Financial State of the City

Kyle Laux of Davenport, the city's financial advisor, presented an overview of the city's credit ratings (triple-A from Moody's, S&P, and Fitch), debt profile, and capacity. He highlighted that unassigned fund balance has declined slightly relative to budget size, but remains within the 8%–12% policy range. Laux noted the city's strong revenue growth (average 5% annually) has slightly outpaced expenditure growth (4.7%), but warned that maintaining structural balance and fund balance levels is critical, especially as the city embarks on approximately $1.3 billion in new borrowing over five years for capital projects including the flood protection program. He recommended maintaining fund balance at the upper end of the policy range to provide financial flexibility.

New finance deputy director Nikki Griffith (introduced by Deputy City Manager Monica Krosky) outlined the next general obligation bond issue of about $162 million, planned for early 2026, and identified potential refinancing of older debt that could save approximately $2.9 million in debt service, subject to market conditions.

Council member questions focused on the importance of the triple-A rating for borrowing costs, the need to coordinate with schools on capital planning, and strategies to manage generational capital investments such as the flood protection program (which grew from $567 million to over $1.5 billion). Council members commended staff and Davenport for the presentation.

Parks Needs Assessment and Development Strategy

Michael Kirshw, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented the updated 2024 Parks Master Plan, the first major update since 2016. The plan, developed with national consultants, includes an equity lens (environmental, access, design, and economic equity). Key findings include a need for 20–25 new outdoor pickleball courts to meet current demand (the sport grew 45% in one year), and significant shortfalls in trails and other amenities. The total estimated cost to address all recommendations is about $777 million, but Kirshw emphasized the plan is not a funding commitment but a prioritization tool. He outlined categories: deferred maintenance (lifecycle replacement), underdeveloped parks (parks with only one amenity), undeveloped parks (acquired but not built), and land acquisition in underserved areas. The department has only opened two new parks in the last 10 years, with none funded in the current CIP beyond Rudy Park (funded by TIP). Council members discussed potential partnerships with schools and universities, the status of the VB Trail (phases 1, 2, and 4), and the Bayside 6th grade campus property (approved for transfer and future park development). Council expressed support for adopting the master plan.

Key Outcomes

  • The informal session included no formal votes; the presentations were informational for upcoming budget planning.
  • The formal session approved the consent agenda as read and the appointments list (including Brian Hickman, Connor Smith, Stephen Ballard, Sharif Hines, Grace Pearl Peart, Mary Gentry, Christy Lyons, Robert Fine, Charles Caton, Lori Overholt, Michael Ronan, Brandon Hackney, Letitia Tibbs, Michael Mach, and Ryan Stu).
  • The council unanimously approved a resolution honoring Deputy Police Chief Shane Adams for his 37-year career, noting his role in developing the Creed training facility and his leadership.
  • No action was taken on the parks master plan; it is expected to return for formal adoption at a later council meeting.

Meeting Transcript

One welcome all. We're about ready to get going with our informal session. All right. So Mr. Mayor, members of council. As you all know, towards the end of every uh calendar year, we tend to have um overview of the city's finances to including a review of the city's debt capacity. So this presentation will be given primarily by Davenport with the support of our finance department. And they're going to give the city and the public an overview of the city's debt profile and also the debt capacity. But before we get going, Monica Krosky, Deputy City Manager, will kick off and introduce our new finance deputy director, Nikki Griffith. Thank you for letting me do that. But I think it's important that we give her a proper introduction to the city. And we are so excited that she's on our team. Nikki is a certified finance public officer. GFOA, which is the government finance officers association, is like 20,000 members and more strong. And Nikki served on their debt committee for almost six years. So getting to see a snapshot nationally of whether it's schools, cities, counties, states, what are the financial strategies they're using. We got her from City of Chesapeake, where she was the assistant director for debt and strategic planning. And she did a lot of cool things there. One notable thing is that when Chesapeake, you might recall, Chesapeake transferred their treasurer's office investment portfolio to their finance department. That's like a billion dollar investment portfolio. And Nikki was responsible for stabilizing that and standing it up to getting it on good ground. Prior to Chesapeake, Nikki worked as the assistant director and the state of Maryland's treasurer's office. And then prior to her work at the state level, she worked on the budget side as well as the finance side for some large counties in Maryland. Over her career, she's done some really interesting innovative financing schemes. Strategies, I'll say innovative financial strategies. One of which was a public-private partnership financing strategy, and she actually won a national award for uh that debt strategy. Um accounting undergrad and graduated Magnum cum lati from Salisbury uh university, and we are just so so excited that she joined our team. You all know Cal in Austin, they're part of Davenport, who serves as our financial advisor. Uh so with the addition of Nikki, uh, we feel as though we have a powerhouse finance team working with budget, our members of the finance department and Davenport. Um excited that we were able to recruit Nikki. So I just wanted to give her background to you all so that you could be a bit more familiar with uh some of her accomplishments over her career. Uh so I think Kyle, are you next up to walk us through? So just wanted to do that. Thank you all. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, mayor, members of council, um, city manager, and other esteemed guests in the room here. Again, Kyle Laux with Davenport, um, the city's financial advisor. Nice to see you as always. Um, I think I would echo um Monica's kudos there of Nikki. We've actually had the pleasure of working with Nikki in a number of those different local governments. Um I believe, don't quote me exactly on this, they're all triple A rated. And so as we go into our financial review of the city, which we always appreciate doing for the mayor and council and the public, um, that triple A experience is something that is unique. It's very, very valuable, and certainly Nikki brings that to the table. Um, and we're excited also again as your outside advisor uh to have her here. Um, what we have up on the screen, um, as the manager mentioned is what we call the financial state of the city. We do this again about this time of the calendar year. It's that time of year where you're wrapping up the audit for last fiscal year that'll be done very soon as we understand.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com