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City expecting $13.75M surplus from 2019-20 fiscal year

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 9/17/2020, 6 p.m.
Worries that the pandemic would leave Richmond financially crippled are evaporating.

Worries that the pandemic would leave Richmond financially crippled are evaporating.

Mayor Levar M. Stoney announced Tuesday that updated information shows the city likely has finished the year with a $13.75 million surplus — nearly triple the $4.7 million surplus the mayor projected in mid-August.

“Our financial reporting continues to indicate that the city has weathered the economic impacts of this pandemic locally,” Mayor Stoney stated.

He noted the surplus — essentially unspent dollars from the 2019-20 fiscal year that ended June 30 — is derived from “fiscal responsibility and prudent management.”

That includes sharply reduced spending after the pandemic hit, financial documents indicate.

The projected $13.75 million surplus, which still needs confirmation from the city’s outside auditor, represents 1.8 percent of the city’s $750 million budget for the fiscal year.

Mayor Stoney stated that half of the unspent money, $6.75 million, would go into untouchable savings per City Council policy, with another 40 percent, or about $5.5 million, earmarked for the city’s maintenance reserve for the upkeep of buildings and other city property.

He stated he would recommend to the council that the remainder, around $1.7 million, be used to pay for a city equity study and for initiatives to address racial disparities in health and pay for post-employment benefits for city workers.