Henrico budget proposal includes 3-percent pay raise

A 3-percent pay raise for eligible county employees, a new incentive-based pay program for teachers, funding for a new elementary school in Glen Allen and a steady real estate tax rate are among the highlights of Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas’s proposed $1.4-billion operating budget for Fiscal Year 2020-21, which he is presenting to the county’s Board of Supervisors at this hour.

The proposal represents an increase of 5.5 percent from the current budget. It includes $962.5 million in general fund expenditures (money that pays for most of the county’s governmental operations) and $142.7 million for capital projects (infrastructure, construction and renovation efforts).

The budget proposal “underscores our community commitment to education and public safety by designating 86% of all revenue growth to these areas,” Vithoulkas said in a statement. “It advances critical projects – from new and expanded schools to sidewalks, improved parks and an indoor sports facility.”

The proposed pay raise appears to be the highest proposed in the region.

In addition, the budget would allocate $3.1 million for the creation of a “career ladders” development program for teachers, which would reward with extra pay those who have advanced their skills. It’s designed to address salary compression and mitigate it in the future – something a number of teachers have complained about recently.

Overall, the budget would allocate $542.4 million to the school system’s operating budget – an increase of 5.4% and about $9 million more than the School Board requested.

For the 42nd consecutive year, the county’s real estate tax would not increase – holding steady at 87 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The budget proposal also would increase from $400,000 to $500,000 the threshold at which Henrico businesses would ned to begin paying business and professional license taxes – exempting about 15,000 of Henrico’s 25,000 businesses from paying the tax. Henrico trails only Fairfax County in the total number of jobs held within its borders – about 193,000, according to county officials.

The budget would provide $1 million to the county’s community revitalization department for officials to buy and rehabilitate homes in specific areas; past and current efforts have targeted a section of Highland Springs. It also would include $1 million to address environmental issues in the county – $500,000 for Henrico to purchase strategically located properties and use them to help mitigate flooding issues nearby and another $500,000 to fund employee efforts to walk streams and remove debris to prevent or mitigate flooding elsewhere.

The average water and sewer customer would experience a tax increase of $3.05 per month as part of the proposal.

Henrico officials are hopeful that any economic challenges resulting from the anticipated arrival of the COVID-19 coronavirus will follow a V-shaped trajectory, potentially dipping south for a period before rebounding quickly, Henrico Deputy Finance Director Meghan Coates told the Citizen Monday.

“It’s something to watch, but it’s not throwing up a red flag” yet, she said.

The budget proposal would fund the construction of a new elementary school for the River Mill community in Glen Allen, for which the board recently purchased a site on Winfrey Road in Glen Allen. Supervisors in January had expressed some concerns during a retreat about whether the school actually would be necessary by the fall of 2022 – the date school officials want to open it – but ultimately concurred with the School Board. It also would include $11.5 million for an eight-classroom addition at Hungary Creek Middle, which would be complete by the same time.

(This is a breaking story; it will be updated.)