Virginia Beach City Council Meeting: Budget Presentation and Resident Satisfaction Award (March 25, 2026)
Virginia Beach City Council Meeting: Budget Presentation and Resident Satisfaction Award
On March 25, 2026, the Virginia Beach City Council met to receive an award for resident satisfaction and to hear the proposed FY26-27 operating and capital budgets from the city manager and budget director. Council members discussed tax relief, infrastructure investments, and workforce compensation.
Presentation of the ETC Resident Satisfaction Survey Award
- City Manager Monica Krosky announced that Virginia Beach received the ETC Institute's "Leading the Way" award, which recognizes cities scoring at least 192 (composite across service quality, customer service, and value for tax dollars). Virginia Beach scored 195, placing it in the top 10% of large cities.
- The award is 11 pounds, representing the 11 cities that initially participated in the survey.
- Krosky noted that the city scored 20 percentage points or higher than other large cities in 15 service areas, including parks, libraries, schools, and bulky item pickup.
- Mayor thanked all city employees, volunteers, and organizations for their contributions.
FY26-27 Proposed Operating Budget
- Budget Director Kevin presented the $2.88 billion operating budget, emphasizing that it maintains all existing services, avoids service interruption, and includes tax relief, workforce investments, and infrastructure funding.
- Key revenue drivers: Real estate assessment growth projected at 6% (vs. assumed 2.8%) and a $11.3 million reduction in VRS contributions created an additional $33.4 million in capacity.
- Tax relief: The proposed budget includes a 10.1% personal property tax credit (up to first $20,000 of vehicle value), estimated to save $96 per household, benefiting both homeowners and renters. This was chosen over a real estate tax rate reduction to reach more residents. The credit is sustainable for at least two years per council direction.
- Workforce compensation: 3.5% general increase (step plan employees get step + 0.5%); additional $7.5 million for mid-year market salary adjustments for non-public safety employees (effective Jan 2027).
- Infrastructure: Additional $42 million to fully fund Great Neck Rec Center construction; $4.5 million for design of Princess Anne and Bayside rec centers; $10 million for SCBA replacement; $11.2 million for fire apparatus; $250,000 for Linhaven Marina restrooms.
- Public safety initiatives: Reclassification of six police officer positions to conservators of the peace; establishment of a three-FTE park ranger program; 12 new EMS FTEs (funded by EMS billing fund); AI tool for ECCS call audit logs.
- Other departments: Parks & Rec redirected 12.5 vacancies; libraries propose non-resident digital access fee ($10-$35); housing department plans technology for remote code enforcement; special events team (6 FTEs) established in Public Works.
- Health insurance: Employer contribution increases 15%; employee premium increases 10% (first increase since 2019) to maintain fund sustainability.
- Schools budget: $33.9 million baseline revenue growth; proposed 5.2% average teacher raise and 4.2% for non-instructional staff; net reduction of 52.75 FTEs due to grant expirations.
FY27-32 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
- Six-year CIP totals $5.3 billion, with $49.8 million appropriated in year one.
- 10 new projects added; no projects deferred for first time in three years.
- Notable projects: Holland Road Phase 1 fully funded ($11.9 million addition); Aquarium modernization ($3 million for schematic design); courthouse reinvestment ($20.2 million for elevator/ADA); resort parking ($25 million); Pemphroke Square public parking (SSD establishment).
- 47 projects totaling $547 million remain unfunded.
Council Discussion and Comments
- Councilmember Rosemary thanked staff and asked about the overall budget increase (3.27%), the $6 million debt service increase (attributed to general government bonds), and teacher salary components. He expressed concern about the 12% combined meals tax (city 6% + state 6%).
- Councilmember Hutch agreed with the personal property tax credit as reaching more citizens and commended infrastructure reinvestment. He requested brief presentations from police and fire chiefs on LITA and potential fourth shift (Norfolk's move).
- Councilmember Cash thanked staff and confirmed that the Chinnaval Ternpipe Phase 2 is fully funded.
- Councilmember Jennifer praised the personal property tax relief for reaching renters and working families.
- Councilmember Stacy noted the budget increase aligns with inflation and supported the PISC recommendations.
- Mayor acknowledged that some council members still desire department-level presentations during budget workshops; staff will adjust format accordingly.
Next Steps
- Four budget workshops scheduled through May; public hearings will be held; budget adoption and vote scheduled for May 12, 2026.
- Council will discuss regional grants, revenue sharing formula (parity for school employee health insurance), and arts/culture dedication fund allocation.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, we called this meeting. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Present city council and nounce to the public uh tremendous honor we receive from ETC regarding the residential satisfaction survey. And Monica's gonna let council know about the award we received and also just the meaning of it and where it places Virginia Beach as it relates to our peers in the nation. Thank you, manager. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council. We got this award last week. It came into the mail. Um and we're really excited. Um just to give you some background on why it's so exciting. Um oftentimes in statistics they call it the bell-shaped curve, and they talk about how you usually hear from folks on either extreme, really happy or really sad. So with the um resident survey being random sampled, it gets you what they call that silent majority on the bell shape curve. Um remember the survey is statistically significant. So that's social science research standard quality data. Um also important, it's demographically representative across key demographics, race, gender, age, and also geographically representative. So we got to hear from folks across all of your districts across the entire city. Um there's really two firms who are really major in this space. ETC is one of them. Um of the benefits is that you tap into their benchmarking database. It's good to see how we score over time ourselves, but it's also interesting to see how we perform against our peers. So HCC has this award called Leading the Way, and essentially it's a composite score across three indicators. Um services, the quality of customer service provided to them, and satisfaction that people feel as though they get for the value of their tax dollars and their fees. And you can see how we compare um to the other folks. In order to get this award, you had to have at least 192 composite score. Uh, we had 195, so we squeaked in, but we're still in there. Uh, the average rating is 114. Um, so it's just a tremendous honor. Um, and in the letter that they sent us last week, um, in addition to these three composite scores, they listed um the areas in which it's small font, because so many of them, where we scored 20 points or higher. Um, and it ranges from parks and rec to libraries to our schools, um, to our bulky item pickup. And I mean, there's other services where we rank higher, maybe five points higher or four points higher, but these are 15 areas where we score 20 percentage points higher than other large cities. So we are in the top 10 percent of large cities, and they mailed us this beautiful award. It's called leading the way, and it's 11 pounds. Yeah. And the 11 pounds represent the 11 cities that did the initial survey when they started decades ago. I think when I was like a little girl, they started doing these surveys. So we wanted to send it to you all, just like the letter that they sent. Um, they work in communities across the country, and to be able to create this type of culture that really trickles down from the top to the bottom of where we really excel in being excellent in delivering services to the community really starts with your stewardship, your support, um, and your leadership. So, Mr. Mayor, members of council wanted to present you with the leading the way award. And you each really have to touch it because otherwise you're not gonna believe it's 11 pounds. But Kevin, it's deceivingly heavy. So you each have to you have to pass it around. Thank you, Mr. Manager. That's my box. Yeah, we should get a day with it. Yeah. Uh let me say this is an honor bestowed on every member of this council, everybody that works for the city of Virginia Beach.
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