Richmond councilors press administration to publish budget amendments and set clearer timeline

Richmond City Council members at a budget work session on operating amendments pressed administration staff to publish the council-submitted amendment spreadsheet and to clarify the schedule for finalizing the budget.

Council member Marjorie Gibson said members and the public lacked access to the full amendment packet and the names of sponsoring council members. “There is public interest in understanding who submitted the various amendments that we’ll be discussing,” Gibson said, asking that the clerk upload the amendment spreadsheet during the meeting.

Council interim Chief of Staff Matthew Slatz said the session’s “primary focus” was on operating amendments and that the council would follow with capital improvements at a later meeting. Slatz told members the chief of staff’s office and budget team were working to get updated numbers to council as quickly as possible.

“We will work with staff to, as quickly as possible, get these things uploaded to our registrar site so that citizens are not scrolling down,” President (Dr.) Newbill said while acknowledging that some documents continued to change up to the meeting.

Will Perkins, senior legislative services manager for council, walked members through draft text amendments to the city’s budget ordinance and said two councilors had submitted draft ordinance changes for staff review. Perkins asked members for feedback so legal and administrative staff could complete language and cost estimates.

Council members requested more time and clearer process guardrails. Several members said they wanted future budget cycles to start earlier and for agendas and amendment materials to be posted with consistent accessibility. “We need to start this process much, much sooner,” one council member said while urging a policy to standardize what documents are shared and when.

Administration staff agreed to publish the documents and to circulate updated numbers and ordinance text so the public and council can review before further deliberations. The council scheduled continued budget work for a subsequent session to consider capital items and finalize amendments.