Henrico supervisors adopt $1.3B budget

The Henrico Board of Supervisors took steps on Tuesday night to prepare the county for the financial burden that COVID-19 has created, unanimously adopting a revised $1.3-billion budget plan.

As the Citizen reported earlier this week, county officials recently had to cut $99 million from their initial Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal as a result of revenue losses expected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and will only allocate funds on a quarter-by-quarter basis to limit local exposure during the public health crisis.

In addition to eliminating a planned 3-percent pay raise for eligible county employees, other cuts to the original plan included:

• $22.7 million in capital projects that were slated to get underway (including the planned indoor sports arena and convocation center at Virginia Center Commons; capital projects already underway, such as the new Tucker and Highland Springs high schools, will continue);
• $9.2 million in operations costs across all county agencies, resulting from a required 5-percent cut;
• $5.7 million from a hiring freeze for all vacant positions (about 300 total between general government and the school system), except for those in public safety;
• $3 million in targeted departmental cuts;
• $2 million in reduced general fund money for solid waste programs.

Assistant Director of Finance Meghan Coates told supervisors ahead of the budget vote that Henrico’s unemployment is at about 12 percent.

Among other local key economic indicators, during the month of March, Henrico’s meals tax revenue was down 33 percent, occupancy tax revenue was down about 50 percent and the sales tax dropped 2 percent, though that amount reflected only two weeks of the shutdown and also was paired with panic shopping ahead of the pandemic, Coates said. The April numbers will be much more telling of what normal will look like in this environment, she said.

Within the past 30 days, supervisors and School Board members worked closely to figure out how to close the budget gap and to decide what the non-negotiables would be moving forward. They concluded that those would include not placing additional burdens on residents; helping Henrico businesses survive; protecting the county’s workforce; and ensuring the delivery of core governmental services.

General government agencies and Henrico County Public Schools were asked to cut 5 percent of operating costs; some realized that they could operate at a bare-bones operation level for a year if it meant keeping staff members on payroll, Coates said. Deeper departmental cuts are being absorbed by the Recreation and Parks (since a number of planned events have been canceled) and county libraries (which have been closed).

Varina Supervisor Tyrone Nelson thanked the employees who have worked hard to pull the budget together. He also applauded all of the departments that cut their budgets.

“I hope to never experience this again,” he said. “It still just seems like a nightmare to have to journey through this.”

After officials asked for public input about budget cuts April 14, Coates said they received more than 100 pages of recommendations to save money on the budget. One of those is an early retirement program adopted into the budget that is projected to save the county $1.5 million.

Other budget cuts included are school supplies and equipment and HCPS non-instructional positions. Nelson said he is “hoping for some type of miracle,” and that those cuts to the schools brought tears to his eyes along with “sleepless nights.”

Three Chopt Supervisor and board chairman Tommy Branin echoed that sentiment but also urged vigilance and caution moving forward.

“I want to thank the people on the school’s side for stepping up,” said Branin. “We need to keep focus, and we need to keep a watchful eye on anything as we move forward that we can pull back. If we get hit again in the fall, we don’t have any more rabbits in the hat.”

CARES Act Funding
In other matters, the board also unanimously amended its current budget to allocate $1.5 million in grant money provided to Henrico by the federal government as part of the CARES Act. The funding must be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus.

Community Revitalization Director Eric Leabough told supervisors that organizations in the county had the opportunity to apply for these funds in recent weeks. Requests were received from 24 programs in total, and 17 of the requests were recommended by his office.

(View a complete list of those approved and the amounts they received below.)

Supervisor Frank Thornton of Fairfield asked whether the money would provide any assistance to renters, and Leabough noted that the $360,000 allocated to Henrico’s Division of Social Services would do so.

Supervisor Pat O’Bannon of Tuckahoe raised concerns about whether the money would be spent correctly, noting that the federal government requires the money be spent on human needs that have been directly impacted by COVID-19. Leabough said that his office would follow up and work alongside each organization that received the grant money to ensure that it is being used appropriately.

New life care facility planned in the West End
Supervisors also unanimously approved a motion to rezone 16.4 wooded acres in the Far West End along the east line of Nuckols Road at its intersection with Fords Country Lane. In total, just about 8 acres were rezoned for a life care facility, with the rest of the space for potential retail and/or office use.

The facility will be limited to 179 units, and the property will include a round-about in an attempt to limit cut-through traffic on the property. The Henrico Planning Commission recommended approval of the project to the board March 12. No members of the public spoke about the case.

The board also adopted an ordinance to reduce penalties and interest on late payments of 2020 personal property taxes, machinery and tools taxes, and real estate taxes to zero percent from June 5 to Aug. 5, and to extend the time for payment of vehicle license taxes to Aug. 5