Council, mayor agree on what to do with $6.65 million surplus

By: Zachary Reid | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: September 27, 2010

There was polite but decidedly firm debate, but in the end, the mayor got what he wanted.

Richmond City Council tonight approved Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ shopping list of things on which to spend a $6.65 million surplus from the fiscal year that ended June 30.

On a 7-1 vote with one abstention, the council approved a plan that includes creating a $2 million rainy day fund, spending $2.9 million on infrastructure and miscellaneous programs and $1.75 million to help city employees cover health insurance costs.

“We’re trying to put something in place to deal with short-term issues,” the city’s chief administrative officer, Byron C. Marshall, said during an afternoon work session.

That came in response to questioning from Bruce W. Tyler, the First District representative, who suggested that the surplus would be better used by paying into the chronically and grossly underfunded city retirement system.

Marshall said the retirement fund was in such need of attention — it is, he said, about $333 million short — that it required a more substantial solution than a small, quick fix.

“There’s a lot of things, a lot of worthy things, this money could have been spent on,” he said. “We’re going to have to plan for [making up the difference], and we’ll come back with that plan in our 2012-13 budget."

During the regular meeting, Tyler said he was disappointed that a decision on the retirement fund was being put off.

“I was pleasantly surprised two weeks ago,” he said. “I was hopeful we would find a place for it to go where it will have a lasting impact. We’re here tonight and I sense we’ve gone to a holiday package.

“This is a premature vote.”

Council member Reva M. Trammell joined Tyler in opposing a quick resolution to the mayor’s request, which was made Thursday.

“It’s too hard to read all of this tonight and vote,” she said during the afternoon session, then launched into a discourse on the ills of past resolutions, particularly a storm water fee on commercial property, that she said were rushed through without appropriate consideration.

“I don’t feel like we should vote on something being crammed down our throats.”

Trammell abstained from the vote.

With the exception of a single small expenditure — $89,000 for an International Baccalaureate program at Henderson Middle School — missing from the discussion about the surplus was schools.

“There has been no board-level discussion of it,” said Kimberly Bridges, the School Board chairwoman.

The lack of interest rankled Vicki Beatty, the chief plaintiff in a lawsuit over handicap accessibility to city schools. In the nearly five years since the School Board agreed to make all of its buildings accessible, a lack of money has often been cited as the reason for slow, or no, progress.

“Surplus to me means that it’s not only not depended upon, it’s not needed,” said Beatty. “It’d be nice if they used that money to make a statement.”

The school system still needs at least $10 million to finish its accessibility renovations.

Third District council member Chris A. Hilbert said he was happy for the money for the IB program.

“The IB program at Henderson [Middle School] is critical,” he said. “We need to expand support for our middle school programs.”