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Committee forwards FY25 reappropriation paper; identifies $4.9 million overtime driver in Fire & Emergency Services
Summary
Ordinance 20 25 1 43, a fiscal-year-end reappropriation increasing FY25 appropriations by $9.6 million, was forwarded to full council. Staff said the paper realigns departmental budgets to cover overages; Fire & Emergency Services overtime accounted for the largest single driver with roughly $4.9 million cited.
The Richmond City Finance Committee voted to forward ordinance 20 25 1 43 to the full council with recommendation to approve a FY25 reappropriation paper that increases total appropriations by about $9.6 million to align departments’ budgets with actual revenues and expenditures.
Megan Brown, director of Budget and Strategic Planning, told the committee the ordinance is a routine year‑end realignment that does not create new programs but reallocates revenue to cover departmental overages. Brown cited multiple causes of overages: a higher-than-anticipated VRS retirement rate (from 12.88% in the adopted budget to 14.51%), increased overtime related to regular operations and in response to the city’s water crisis, and additional security costs after an incident in parks.
Committee discussion focused on Fire & Emergency Services overtime, which members identified as the largest single expenditure driver in the paper. Committee members and staff said roughly $4.9 million of the overage is associated with Fire and Emergency Services, largely tied to mandatory overtime. Staff noted the city added 72 positions funded through a SAFER grant in the fiscal year but said those hires had not yet eliminated mandatory overtime for all companies.
Council members asked for further review of staffing models and overtime drivers; staff said they would study options including possible reallocation or adjustments to staffing distribution to reduce overtime costs in coming budget cycles.
Brown said the paper reflects approximately $4.03 million in additional revenue realized during the fiscal year and that the reappropriation increases total appropriations by about $9.6 million. After a public hearing with no speakers, the committee voted to forward the ordinance to council with a recommendation to approve; the committee recorded votes from Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch and Chair Robertson.
The matter will return to the full Richmond City Council for final action.
