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Richmond council presses administration over $12.6M surplus and $10M property‑tax difference
Summary
Council members pressed city leaders for a line‑by‑line breakdown after CAO O'Donnell and auditors said an interim estimate of a $22M surplus later became a $12.6M audited figure; members also sought reconciliation between the CAFR's $595.8M property‑tax figure and the budget book's $584.5M.
Council Member Gibson pressed city leadership for documentation explaining how the administration arrived at a final audited surplus figure of $12,600,000 and a roughly $10,000,000 difference between the city budget's FY25 property‑tax actual and the ACFR number.
"I was wondering if that, that type of calculation is something that can be included as part of the documentation," Gibson said, asking the administration for a full breakdown tied to city code showing how the surplus was calculated. She pointed to a budget book line showing FY25 actual property tax revenue at $584,500,000 while the ACFR showed $595,800,000.
CAO O'Donnell explained the earlier $22 million estimate was an interim snapshot produced to comply with a statutory reporting timetable before component‑unit data had been received. "The audit was not complete," he said. "We took the data that we had… and provided an estimate to be compliant with the law." He agreed to look into providing the detailed math, the component‑unit submissions, and a line‑item reconciliation to clarify the difference.
Council members also asked for the list of component units that arrived late and which were used to revise the estimate to the final figure; O'Donnell identified Richmond Public Schools and the Richmond Ambulance Authority among the larger component units and said staff would bundle submissions and send them to the council.
Other clarifications noted during the exchange included a departmental overrun for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (listed in the ACFR as about $4.1 million over appropriations on the department-by-department overrun list) and an auditor note that the city must follow GASB implementations that affected reporting timelines.
Administration committed to deliver the requested material and a written reconciliation showing how CAFR and budget line items were compiled. Council members said the documentation will be needed to inform decisions during the upcoming budget process.
