If you work for the city of Virginia Beach, you will be bringing home more money come July.

The City Council approved in a 10-1 vote a $3.3 billion gross operating budget Tuesday night that will raise the minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour. It goes into effect July 1.

The budget includes $32.8 million for a new step pay raise program for city workers. It will be based on years of service with a 3% wage increase for each step. Roughly 80% of the workforce will qualify for the plan. Virginia Beach employs 7,400 full- and part-time workers.

“It’s a major step in the right direction,” said Charles Brown, organizer of the Virginia Beach City Workers Union, UE Local 111.

During a budget hearing last month, dozens of the city’s waste management employees lined the back wall of the Virginia Beach Convention Center, holding signs and banners for wage increases.

Every full-time and part-time city employee will see a minimum 5% wage increase under the new budget, according to the city.

“We’re really happy that we can do this for our employees,” Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson said. “We felt if we didn’t address this need we would lose our employees to the private sector or other cities.”

City Manager Patrick Duhaney had proposed an increase in real estate taxes to help pay for projects included in the $567.5 million flood protection program bond referendum, which voters approved last November.

But the council decided instead to keep real estate taxes the same as last year, at 99 cents per $100 of assessed value, of which includes 4.1 cents to be dedicated to a new flood protection fund for a total of nearly $28 million to be set aside.

Most homeowners will still pay more in real estate taxes this year, however, because city assessments increased.

The approved budget also includes a second year of personal property tax relief. In March, the council approved reducing the assessments on cars and trucks by 25% for the 2022 tax year. It will extend to 2023.

Councilman John Moss proposed an alternative budget that would have lowered the real estate tax rate, but he was unable to garner support from his colleagues.

Sandbridge residents will see a 2 cent reduction per $100 of assessed value in real estate tax. That’s because a special sand replenishment fund that residents pay into has been benefiting from hotel tax revenues, so residents will get a break.

The approved budget includes $387 million for construction projects. One controversial item in the proposed budget that called for $45 million for the purchase of property in the resort area — including the 17th Street Park — was reduced by $32 million. That money will be redirected to the Atlantic Park project at the old dome site on 19th Street rather than the 17th Street Park.

Councilman Linwood Branch said the park is still on the city’s radar.

“If a property comes up, I think we will have money to step up to the plate,” he said.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ proposed operating budget will be fully funded. It includes a 5% salary increase for school employees, adds 58 full-time employees and reduces employee health care premium costs.

Among some of the other budget measures: The city will renovate the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Oceanfront; $300,000 will be used for security and cleaning efforts in Town Center; and a one-time $5,000 grant will be provided to the Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia, to support ending homelessness within the transgender community.

The City Council decided not to renew its $530,969 annual contract with the Hampton Roads Alliance, a nonprofit group that works to bring jobs and investments to the region. The council has expressed concerns about the organization’s effectiveness and plans to instead negotiate a one-year conditional agreement with the alliance for an amount to be determined.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com