Radford interim city manager warns of $4 million structural gap; council approves $941,000 in current-year cuts and delays events

Interim City Manager Craig Meadows told Radford City Council members in a work session that the city faces “a fundamental challenge with the budget, especially [the] general fund,” and that his office identified about $941,000 in expenses that can be cut from the current fiscal year to help close what he described as “about $4,000,000 a year” in structural shortfalls.

Meadows said the reductions came after department-by-department reviews with staff and constitutional officers and include a 50% reduction in this year’s paving program (the paving program was budgeted at $650,000), deferral of two major information-technology upgrades into fiscal 2026 and smaller cuts across departments. “We were able to identify across all funds about 941,000 of funds of expenses that can be cut out of this current year budget,” Meadows said.

Why it matters: Meadows and councilors said the cuts are intended to show immediate fiscal restraint while the city continues work on a longer-term plan. Council members and staff described a mix of revenue and expense fixes ahead, including possible utility rate adjustments, a revenue-anticipation note in fiscal 2026 and a future capital-improvement planning session to address multimillion-dollar water, wastewater and electric needs.

Meadows emphasized the role of wholesale electricity costs in the city’s finances. He told the…