Council staff presented draft text amendments to the city’s proposed budget ordinance and council members discussed several substantive changes that would alter the ordinance beyond dollar-line items.

Will Perkins, senior legislative services manager, briefed the body on a set of proposed ordinance text amendments submitted by multiple council members. The proposals discussed included removing non-budget-specific ordinance language from the proposed budget ordinance (one submission would strip several sections that address matters such as city attorney opinions and residency requirements), establishing that janitorial and security contractors pay wages at the city minimum wage, and changing timeline requirements for mayoral budget submission and formal presentation to council.

Perkins characterized several of the larger proposals as policy-level changes and said staff would seek council input before drafting final ordinance language. Council member Gibson and President Newbill said removing text not directly tied to budget numbers would keep the budget process focused on fiscal decisions; Gibson said she would review whether to pursue a narrower or broader strike of text.

Sabrina Joy Hogg, interim CAO, presented a preliminary cost estimate for the janitorial/security wage proposal: approximately $1,100,000 for janitorial contracts and $2,400,000 for security contracts (totaling about $3,500,000) if contracted workers were paid $20 per hour, and she suggested treating the change as a budget amendment rather than a tax or outside action.

Other text proposals included restructuring non-departmental (partner agency) allocations into categorical blocks rather than individual line-item awards and a proposal related to Richmond Public Schools fund balance treatment that would align the ordinance with state law on how prior-year unexpended funds are reallocated.

Council members discussed the feasibility of restructuring partner funding and suggested working with administration and auditors across the coming year to design a process. On the schools fund-balance item, Council member Gibson asked for additional details and documentation so the body can align city and school procedures with applicable state law.

Ending: Staff said they would draft ordinance text once council provided direction on which text amendments to advance and would obtain cost and legal analysis for items such as the contractor-wage change before formal introduction.