Council debates trade-offs to fund Richmond People’s Budget; Laburnum widening and fleet cuts proposed

Richmond City Council members and city staff spent several hours weighing which capital projects to reduce or reallocate to fund the Richmond People’s Budget and other council priorities as they finalize amendments for the FY26 budget.

Matthew Slats, interim chief of staff, told the council the goal of the session was to find “consensus on both reductions and enhancements of both capital and operating” so changes could be drafted and returned to council. Staff said council had submitted roughly $35 million in enhancement requests and had identified a little more than $4 million in potential capital reductions so far.

Why it matters: Council members who back the People’s Budget said it is a near-term priority but that the funds must come from other parts of the CIP, because the city’s overall resources and bonding capacity are limited.

Staff and councilors discussed two primary options to free capital dollars: pausing the Laburnum Avenue widening project, and taking some reductions from the city’s cash-funded vehicle fleet budget (excluding police, fire and refuse). Daniel Wagner, interim deputy chief of staff, said a staff proposal would remove Laburnum as an active widening project and instead reinvest the roughly $959,617 into citywide complete-streets work — paving, sidewalks and traffic-calming measures — or, if council prefers, specifically earmark funds for sidewalks.

Council members asked for clarity on how the money would be subdivided. Council member Britton said residents want sidewalks across the city and recommended earmarking more funding specifically for sidewalks rather than for a broader “complete streets” paving bucket that is dominated by paving costs. Wagner and staff replied that the complete-streets budget includes paving (about $16 million) plus sidewalks and speed tables, and that earmarking could be done by text amendment.

Fleet reductions were presented as another potential source of funding. Staff said roughly $2.78 million of proposed fleet reductions could be identified from nonpublic-safety vehicles (animal control, parks and nonrefuse DPW vehicles) but that amounts would need to be adjusted if the council wants to hold public-safety and refuse replacement harmless. Administration later provided a slightly revised fleet figure of roughly $2.6456 million for some nonresponse fleet categories. Council members broadly signaled they were not willing to accept cuts to police, fire or refuse truck replacements.

The People’s Budget crosswalk: Staff said a crosswalk of participatory-budget projects across districts produced a total funding need of about $2.78 million to implement the top-ranked projects from each district. Wagner asked administration to cross-check those items with existing CIP commitments to identify what could already be covered and what would be new funding. Administration agreed to return that crosswalk and line-item responses to council as soon as possible.

Quotes: "We are getting — we’re excited that we’re taking these important steps," Matthew Slats, interim chief of staff, said at the start of the meeting. Council members repeatedly pressed staff for a clearer crosswalk so they could see which projects were already funded and which would require new dollars.

Ending: Staff committed to provide a detailed crosswalk showing where People’s Budget items intersect with the proposed CIP and to return with cost and funding options. Council members instructed staff to preserve public-safety and refuse vehicle replacements while staff continues to identify potential fleet and capital reductions that could fund the People’s Budget or other priorities.