Committee continues budget-transparency ordinance, forms subcommittee to craft broader budget reforms

A proposed ordinance to change the form of the budget submitted to City Council — requiring publication of a side-by-side comparison of agency-level budget requests and the mayor’s proposed budget — was continued by the Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee to the July 16, 2025 meeting to allow more collaborative work with a newly formed subcommittee.

Why it matters: The measure aims to increase council and public transparency in Richmond’s budget process by giving councilmembers earlier access to agency-level budget submissions and justifications, modeled in part on state-level practices described during the meeting.

What the committee decided and why: Lauren Kirk, senior manager in the Department of Budget, said the administration requested a continuance to allow further discussion. Councilmember patrons of the ordinance (speaking by phone and in person) described the measure’s intent as increasing “line of sight” into department requests earlier in the fiscal cycle, identifying new funding requests and full-time-equivalent (FTE) changes well before the mayor’s introduced budget. The patrons noted similar statewide practices where agencies post submission materials publicly.

Council leadership asked for the ordinance to be included in a broader reform effort. Council President Newbill tasked Vice Chair Jordan and Chair Robertson (the finance committee chair) to form a subcommittee to work with the administration and produce incremental reports back to the full council, with a target timeline running toward September for a comprehensive proposal. The committee ultimately voted to continue the ordinance to the July 16, 2025 committee meeting, with a recommendation that the subcommittee consider and, where appropriate, incorporate the ordinance’s transparency provisions into the broader reform.

Key clarifications from the meeting: - The ordinance’s implementation date in current draft is January 15 (year not specified in transcript), which patrons said could influence whether the change would affect the next budget year or require waiting an additional year. Patrons asked the committee to preserve the option to pull the ordinance out of the workstream and move it forward earlier if desired. - The subcommittee will provide incremental updates to the full council (approximately every 30 days, per committee discussion) and may present a final recommendation by September; the committee voted to continue the ordinance to the July 16 meeting as part of that process.

What the record does not show: The transcript does not include finalized language changes, a detailed cost estimate for publishing agency-level materials, or a final implementation schedule. The committee asked staff and the subcommittee to produce those details in follow-up work.