Richmond, VA —  Ahead of the introduction of Mayor Danny Avula’s FY27 budget, and as required by ORD. 2025-100 passed by City Council on Sep. 22, 2025, the City of Richmond is releasing the enhancement requests submitted by City departments. These requests totaled over $80 million. Their scope and scale illustrate the wide range of possibilities for how the City could invest its limited resources, and they demonstrate a deep, shared commitment to improving service delivery. 

While acknowledging these requests, the Mayor’s FY27 proposed budget will focus on delivering core services, meeting the City's existing commitments to employees and critical obligations, and finding efficiencies.  

“I am grateful to all of our leaders for their thoughtful work in submitting their increased contractual obligations and desired enhancements for their departments. I will be working hard over the next two months to prepare a balanced budget that helps move us toward our goal of a Thriving Richmond,” said Mayor Danny Avula. “There are many difficult decisions ahead of us, given the realities of this coming fiscal year, but I remain committed to stewarding the tax payer’s dollar with great care.” 

“I've focused on building a Thriving City Hall, and you can see that in this budget season. We've created more time for Council deliberation, deepened our partnership with Richmond Public Schools, and used the MAP to guide transparent, priority-driven decision-making,” he continued. 

While the FY27 budget season serves as an opportunity for the City to continue progress toward best-in-class service delivery, it also presents challenges: 

1. The real estate assessment freeze will align property assessments with the City's budget cycle, and early estimates project FY27 revenue growth at less than $15 million — in contrast to $42 million in FY26. 
2. The Administration’s has committed to maintain initial collective bargaining agreements, which results in a significant investment in the City’s workforce in FY27. 
3. The City has invested in Richmond Public Schools at historic levels. The administration is committed to maintaining this level of investment, which currently is equivalent to 25% of the total general fund budget.
4. The volatile federal outlook and uncertainty in state and federal funding allocations will likely pass the responsibility of funding vital services down to local taxpayers. 

Process 

In fall of 2025, each department’s director was asked to compile a list of increased contractual obligations and no more than five “enhancements” to their FY26 budget, along with appropriate justification. These requests could include either or both operating expenses and personnel expenses. 

Those enhancements were then reviewed by the Department of Budget and Strategic Planning, the applicable Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, and, ultimately, the Chief Administrative Officer.  

The Mayor will use the enhancements lists to inform his FY27 budget, which will be introduced on March 11. 

View all of the enhancement requests on rva.gov. 

More on the Real Estate Assessment Freeze 

The City is in the process of aligning its real estate assessment cycle with its budgeting calendar. This is an industry best practice, and the realignment will make the City’s budgeting process more efficient while providing the most up-to-date revenue information to both the Mayor and City Council for budget decision making. 

The 2026 – 2027 real estate assessment freeze will have a dramatic impact on projected revenue over the next two fiscal years. In FY26, the City’s total general fund budget increased by $54.6 million with about $42.0 million coming from increases in real estate taxes. With assessments frozen, the City expects real estate tax growth of less than $15 million. 

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