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Sustainability office reports $75,000 in early bag-tax receipts, vows transparent tracker and new staff
Summary
At a May committee meeting, Tara Wharton, sustainability manager, reported the city has received just over $75,000 in disposable plastic bag-tax revenue to date, corrected a previous count to 1.9 million taxed bags, and said the funds — restricted to cleanup, education, litter mitigation and reusable-bag distribution — will support programs and a new staff position.
Tara Wharton, sustainability manager in the Office of Sustainability, told the Governmental Operations Standing Committee in May that the city's 5-cent disposable plastic bag tax, which took effect in January, has produced just over $75,000 in remitted revenue so far and that 1,900,000 bags have been taxed to date.
"The 5¢ tax went live in January this year," Wharton said, noting the program splits proceeds so 4¢ goes to the city and 1¢ is retained by retailers. Wharton corrected an earlier presentation error, saying the original slide miscounted taxed bags and that the accurate total is 1,900,000.
Wharton said the tax revenue is restricted by law to environmental cleanups, education, litter mitigation and distribution of reusable bags to SNAP and WIC recipients. "With that money just from this fiscal year, we have committed $68,000 to support the curb composting drop-off program," she said, and added that the office intends to hire a full-time employee to advance program work.
Committee members pressed staff about whether the city is on track to meet an internal revenue estimate. Wharton said January collections were low but that if recent trends continue the city could land "somewhere around that $200,000 mark" by the end of the fiscal reporting period; she cautioned that reporting lags of about eight weeks make short-term trends uncertain.
Laura Thomas, director of the Office of Sustainability, said the office will develop a separate live tracker for bag-tax receipts and expenditures to provide transparency about how "every penny is coming in and going out." Thomas also highlighted related climate and equity work under the RVA Green 2050 effort and noted the next greenhouse-gas inventory will begin next year; the office published 2022 inventory data in 2024 and said emissions reporting lags remain a limitation to tying implementation directly to near-term GHG reductions.
Wharton's presentation also summarized ongoing and new initiatives supported by sustainability staff, including permitting work for the Easton Solar Meadow, an energy-efficiency program recently approved by council, audits of more than 100 homes through a Healthy Homes partnership, an energy study at Wickham Court, and the "Cool This City" program (supported by a USDA fund Wharton said totals $6,000,000) that has planted more than 1,300 trees and engaged nearly 900 residents. She said the office received a $50,000 award from the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund to seed youth greening projects that must be rolled out within six months.
Wharton closed by asking for committee guidance and promising to provide updated April totals when remittances from the Virginia Department of Taxation arrive. The committee did not take formal action on the presentation; staff will return with more detailed program and budget requests as projects move toward implementation.
