Petersburg council approves budget, school spending and recycling-fee hikes
PETERSBURG — With little fanfare and only one public comment, City Council unanimously passed its $117.27 million budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year Tuesday night.
The final plan, roughly $10 million higher than the 2022-23 budget, includes a 2% pay increase for firefighters and no hike for police officers, and a 7% salary increase for the Social Services department. All the departments saw increases in their individual budgets ranging from 1.89% for courts and public safety to more than 23% for the planning department.
Chief financial officer Stacey Jordan attributed the jump in the planning department’s dollars to the planned hiring of a new planning director.
In a separate unanimous vote, council approved $12.36 million in local funding for the Petersburg City Public Schools’ 2023-24 budget year.
More: First proposed operating budget exceeds city revenue by $18 million dollars: Here's a breakdown
Only one citizen spoke during the public hearing, and he questioned why the fire department’s budget was $2 million less than the police department’s budget.
“There has to be parity in public safety,” Petersburg deputy fire marshal Jeff Fleming told council members. “A police officer basically starts more than a firefighter now. You got firefighters starting more now, but they’re still not making the same as the neighboring jurisdictions. We’re gonna lose firefighters.”
Jordan said the reason for the $2 million difference between the police and fire departments is because the police department has more personnel.
The vote on both the budget and the school appropriation was 6-0. Ward 4 Councilor Charlie Cuthbert was not at the meeting.
In other business …
Without comment, council voted unanimously to approve a $4 increase in the monthly recycling fee retroactive to April 1. Meridian Waste Virginia LLC, the city’s trash and recycling vendor, asked for the increase to help offset higher expenses from inflation, labor costs, supply-chain issues, and increased volume of recycling and disposal costs.
Council lifted the restriction on taxi drivers carrying weapons while on duty. City attorney Tony Williams said the state statute on which that restriction was based was eliminated in 2004, but the city never removed it from the city code. An email from the gun-advocacy group Virginia Citizens Defense League to Williams pointed out the need for the change. “This Petersburg ordinance applying to taxicabs has been preempted since 2004.” VCDL president Philip Van Cleave wrote in that Feb. 8 email. “Looks to have fallen through the cracks, but needs to be repealed.”
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg council approves budget, school spending and recycle hikes
