Maggie Anderson, Richmond’s director of intergovernmental affairs, told the Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee on March 1 that city departments reported $294,400,000 in active or anticipated federal financial assistance across multiple fiscal years.

Anderson said roughly $116,500,000 of that total was categorized by departments as potentially at risk if the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) funding freeze proposed in late January were to be implemented. “Of that total, approximately a hundred and 16,500,000.0 is what we are categorizing as a potential risk,” Anderson said.

The memo Anderson presented, compiled from submissions by each city department, identified the Department of Social Services, the Department of Public Utilities and the Department of Housing and Community Development as the three city offices most exposed to federal changes. “Department of Social Services receives quite a bit of federal funding and a number of their employees receive part of their pay…through reimbursement through the federal government,” Anderson said. She added that Public Utilities had received substantial federal grants for lead line replacement and related projects.

Council members pressed for follow-up detail. Chairwoman Levar M. Robertson (referred to throughout the meeting as Chair Robertson) asked for more frequent updates and a clearer sense of whether the at-risk totals represented payroll, program expenditures or both. “If we do not get the reimbursement, the city will have made the investment without the reimbursements to cover the reasonable expense that we assume that we would be reimbursed for,” Robertson said.

Anderson said the city is tracking developments closely and has asked departments to report any notices from federal grantors about halted work or inaccessible grant portals. She noted that a January 27 OMB memo proposing the freeze was blocked by federal judges and that the near-term picture changed when Congress approved a continuing resolution on March 14 that preserved FY24 funding levels through September. “That was signed by President Trump… That does give some level of comfort if you will,” she said.

Interim Chief Administrative Officer Sabrina Joy Hogg told the committee that American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are separately held and that obligated ARPA balances are in city accounts, which would make any federal clawback more complicated. “The funds are in our bank account. So if they're gonna claw it back, they're gonna have to take it from our bank account,” she said.

The committee asked the administration to supply more frequent, department-level reports showing which grant amounts are still unreimbursed, which are payroll versus programmatic, and what contingency plans or reserve strategies the city should consider while federal policy remains unsettled.

Ending: Anderson said her office will continue to share notifications with congressional representatives and asked council members to forward any notices they receive from local partners so the city can escalate problems quickly.