City Hall Shorts: Pledge Broken By Confusing Affirmation; Accessibility Breeds Accountability; More Fees For Thee!

RVA 5x5 - April 17, 2025

No algorithms. No content filters. No A.I. — Honest and insightful analysis from Richmond, VA.

Today’s issue has a look at:

• It’s not a good look when you pledge to help address affordable housing and then back out because you misread the budget.

• City Council is considering enhancing the residency requirement for top City Hall officials so they have buy in while the Mayor wants to loosen them.

• If you’re glad your real estate taxes have shot up in recent years and will go up again this year, then you’ll also be celebrating the new fee increases in this year’s budget!

STORY #1 — Pledge Broken By Confusing Affirmation
A week after Mayor Avula released his proposed budget late last month, it only took a few days before a little digging uncovered three items included in the budget that had nothing to do with funding education, providing public safety, paving roads, or pumping water to your faucet. Graham Moomaw uncovered at The Richmonder that Avula has tried to slip three non-budget items past the goalie (that would be City Council who reviews, amends, and approves the budget).

Those three proposals would repeal the law requiring written public opinions from the city attorney’s office, loosen residency rules requiring senior city officials (see next story), and loosen the requirements for giving to non-profit groups. When those proposals were brought to light by the media, Mayor Avula replied he did not know they were included in the budget and that, “I did not intend for those items to be included in the budget ordinance.”

Avula ran on a promise to make affordable housing affordable a top issue of his administration. One aspect of the affordable housing crisis concerns people and families living in trailer parks, located mostly in the 8th District off of Richmond Highway. Many of these trailers have been in disrepair for years with leaks and mold and lack of heat in the winter and are hot tin cans in the summer.

Last month, before the budget was introduced, Mayor Avula toured one of the trailer parks and talked to residents there as reported by VPM News and pledged to include the requested $800,000 allocation for residents to help make needed repairs.

In that interview, the Mayor said, “We have to address some of the housing needs of our community and we need to be committed and consistent about putting money behind that. And so that's work that I'm going to do in the remaining weeks I have to mold the budget.”

Video: VPM News, March 14, 2025

The following week on March 25th, the Mayor attended a forum hosted by RISC (Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities), and he told the 2,000 people from across the region in attendance when asked by the RISC moderators about funding for mobile home repairs, “I’m committed to putting another $800,000 in for this upcoming fiscal year.”

However, when the budget was released on March 27th, it did not include that funding. As it turns out, the $800,000 allocated in last year’s budget (which took effect July 1, 2024) has not been spent yet (for some unknown reason) and apparently Avula