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City manager presents $403.7 million FY2026 budget; proposes meals tax to fund deferred maintenance
Summary
City Manager Val Marie Turner presented a proposed FY2026 general fund budget of $403.7 million, outlined goals to stabilize finances and raise employee pay, proposed a meals-tax increase to address facility maintenance, and released public meeting and adoption dates.
Roanoke City Manager Val Marie Turner outlined a proposed FY2026 general fund budget of $403,700,000 and identified three goals for the year: stabilizing the budget, enhancing employee compensation and making targeted infrastructure investments.
Turner told council members the proposed spending plan includes an incremental revenue increase of $24,600,000 compared with FY2025 driven by property taxes, other local taxes and permits, and a proposed 10% increase in the Fire/EMS medical transport fee. "This is the first step in the budget process," the episode host said.
The presentation includes a $3.5 million reduction in department expenditures and maintains level funding for Roanoke City public schools at $106,900,000. The materials cited $4,600,000 in unfunded priorities and a reported total budget reduction figure of $8,100,000.
Turner proposed a 0.5 percentage-point increase in the meals tax, estimated to bring in more than $2,000,000, with options described up to 1.5 percent. The presentation said those revenues could be directed to address growing maintenance backlogs at city facilities and support some unfunded priorities; if the full 1.5 percent increase were adopted, the presentation estimated the total budget would approach just under $410,000,000.
The proposed five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) includes only the FY2026 portion in the current document. A new CIP category would fund maintenance and replacements (examples cited included electrical systems, HVAC and elevator upgrades). The presentation noted that stormwater, the Berglund Center and Park Roanoke are accounted for as enterprise funds separate from the CIP.
Council members received budget books and were told they may submit questions to the budget committee; questions submitted by close of business on Wednesday will be answered by close of business Friday. Two community meetings are scheduled for April 10 and April 17, a public hearing is set for April 21 at 7 p.m., a budget work session for May 5 at 9 a.m., and council is expected to adopt the budget on May 12 at 2 p.m.
The full presentation and the council livestream are available on the city website and the city's Facebook page, and recordings are shown on RVTV Channel 3 and rvtv.org.
