Richmond City Council convened a budget work session to review council-submitted operating amendments, focusing on both enhancements and reductions to the mayor’s proposed budget.

Council interim chief of staff Matthew Slatz said the council had submitted 48 enhancements totaling almost $21,000,000 and 77 possible reductions totaling just over $8,000,000. The session was intended to find alignment on additions and reductions before finalizing a balanced budget.

The discussion centered on where council and administration agree on investments and where they do not. Daniel Wagner, interim deputy chief of staff for council, and Sabrina Joy Hogg, interim chief administrative officer, provided administration responses and cautioned that some proposed personnel cuts use out-of-date vacancy data or target positions that are filled or under active recruitment.

Hogg told the council the budget as proposed already included nearly $14 million in direct reductions to departments and urged caution on cutting certain posts. She noted specific concerns about cuts to finance, emergency communications and other operational units: “If the operating cut goes through, we will have to close Southside and EDI because that is the function that is out of there that you are cutting,” she said, describing the potential program-level impacts of operating reductions.

Council members pressed for clarifications and for documents to be made publicly available; several members said they had only received spreadsheet packets that arrived the morning of the work session. Members asked administration and staff to verify personnel vacancy and recruitment status before the body adopts reductions so that cuts do not remove roles already filled or in active recruitment.

Enhancements discussed with at least some member support included increasing staffing for the city auditor; restoring or increasing funding for partner agencies (including homelessness services, youth programs and the family crisis fund); restoring positions reduced in the council chief of staff office; targeted additions to Richmond Ambulance Authority and Richmond Public Schools; and proposals to raise compensation for contract workers.

Council members also submitted competing levels of additional funding for Richmond Public Schools. The mayor’s proposal included an increase the presentation described as about $9.6 million; council members offered multiple proposals to increase that amount further (examples discussed included increases of $4.0 million and $6.9 million as separate proposals). Staff cautioned that the council can change the size of the allocation to schools but cannot compel how the district spends money once transferred.

Next steps identified by staff included verifying proposed reductions against current payroll and recruitment data, publishing corrected and complete amendment lists for public review, and continuing the discussion at an extended session devoted to capital investments and further budget balancing the following Monday.

Ending: Staff and administration will return verified personnel and operating-impact information to council and the public before the next work session so members can weigh trade-offs with up-to-date numbers.