
At City Council's committee meeting, some attendees wore stickers opposing the meals tax increase, while a man at the chamber door handed out fliers in support (Photo by Sarah King)
As the clock ticked close to 10 p.m., the nine City Council members appeared just as divided as their constituents on Mayor Levar Stoney’s proposal to raise the meals tax — from 6 to 7.5 percent— to help fund the $750 million Richmond Public Schools modernization plan championed by the School Board.
After more than five hours and a flurry of public comments — including one speaker who likened the city’s history of misappropriating funds to giving a crack addict rent money — and a disjointed council voicing at least four different ideas on how to proceed, the council passed a motion to forward Stoney’s proposal to a vote on Feb. 12, with a recommendation for approval.
Although all nine members were present at the Organizational Development Standing Committee meeting, the measure passed on a 5-3 vote because 8th District representative Reva Trammell abstained after her proposal to postpone a vote for 30 days to allow time to meet with her constituents was shot down on a 5-4 vote by her colleagues.
Moments later, fellow South Side representative Michael Jones, of the 9th District, made the motion for a vote next week, which passed after 1st District representative Andreas Addison spoke in favor of the tax — which until Monday night he had stated he was opposed to.
“I just cannot believe my colleagues would do this and not allow my constituents to come out and speak,” said a visibly heated Trammell after the motion passed. “I just cannot believe we would do this.”
The motion was met with a mix of groans and applause from the audience of residents, many of whom had spoken during a public comment period — both in support of, and opposition to, the tax increase.
“There's a part of me that had to really wrestle with how this plays out when the vote’s done,” Addison said after the meeting in regard to why he changed his mind on the matter, “because it’s either a vote for schools or it’s not. It's not about meals tax — that's just the source ... I really feel like there's an opportunity through all this to use this as a commitment to fund schools for the first time.”
Sixteen residents — composed of teachers, parents, School Board members and Superintendent Jason Kamras, who was sworn in just last week — supported the tax during public comment.
The School Board members, including 7th District representative Cheryl Burke, 1st District representative Liz Doerr and 5th District representative Patrick Sapini, as well as Kamras, were allowed to make comments in favor of Stoney’s proposal during the “opposition” comment period due to the fact they were in the midst of their own meeting upstairs.
After comments concluded, 7th District council representative Cynthia Newbille pleaded with her colleagues to forward the measure for a vote next week.
“Today, Monday, Feb. 5 – a significant number of our children attended unacceptable school facilities due to the deplorable conditions," she said, such as George Mason, "where we’re talking about rodents, and mold and falling ceiling tiles."
Other speakers in support of the tax increase expressed similar sentiments. A mother explained that by her calculations, her family spends roughly $5,000 a year eating out, which yields less than $100 in meals tax — a figure, she said, which is much smaller than private school tuition or moving to one of the counties. Willie Hilliard, President of the Brookland Park Association, said his 5-year-old child has developed an allergy to the mold rampant at school. A young man announced that his friends hoping to buy their first homes in the city were not fearful of a meals tax, but of sending their children to Richmond Public Schools.
“You say ‘just wait.’ I can’t wait any longer," Newbille told the chamber. "I have a school in my district that’s more than 100 years old in 2018. And wait? We can’t wait.”
She also conceded many of the points in opposition to moving immediately to a vote, including the fact that the $9 million in additional revenue the tax increase would generate is only a fraction of what the city needs to cover the $150 million price tag of the first phase of facilities construction. However, the revenue from the meal tax increase will raise the amount the city is able to borrow, freeing up an additional $150 million for capital projects by 2023.
Many speakers in opposition during public comment broached this fact. In total, 14 residents — the majority small business owners and employees — voiced opposition to the tax hike for this reason, among others.
Liz Kincaid, operations director of RVA Hospitality, whose portfolio includes restaurants Max’s on Broad and Tarrant’s Cafe, said downtown restaurants have been through “a lot lately” and the hurdles to business — such as construction from the bus rapid transit system and Maggie Walker statue, which straddles the two restaurants, were taking a toll.
“That means we’ve had to lay off employees — people can’t make their mortgage; people can’t pay rent. When taxes go up in the city, we feel that,” Kincaid said. “It’s hard to explain to large parties, ‘Your tab is $1,000, then 32 percent of that is going to go toward tax and tip — so that’s an extra $320 … It’s really hard, as taxes go up, to say ‘Come to Virginia, come to Richmond, come to the convention center.’ It’s really hard to explain that to customers.”
Kincaid, like several others, then proposed taking more time to consider the tax hike. Many of the small business owners and employees who spoke during public comment emphasized that they were fully supportive of finding a solution for the public schools, but that they didn’t feel it should come at the cost of an industry they feel is disproportionately affected, and that already donates generously to schools.
The meals tax took shape in 2003 when the city upped it to 6 percent — a “temporary” 1 percent increase to fund the development of the Richmond CenterStage performing arts center (now the Dominion Energy Center). In 2006, City Council voted to keep the 6 percent figure in place; the tax already subsidizes schools more than any other debt service.
“When you look at the budget, the debt service that’s currently being paid in our fiscal year ‘18 for schools and maintenance construction is $16.6 million,” Agelasto said after city Finance Director John Wack explained a breakdown of figures to the council and audience. “The debt service for CenterStage is $1.9 million; Altria is $694,000 and the Richmond Coliseum is $582,000. Of those numbers, clearly the debt service for schools, maintenance and construction is the biggest number.”
Agelasto, who opposed forwarding the proposal to next week’s meeting for a vote, then presented a slew of alternatives he thinks should, at a minimum, be explored before levying a higher meals tax, including historic tax credits (37 RPS schools are eligible), performance contracting (which he said could solve the cold-classroom problem) and a cigarette tax.
“Clearly there are a lot of alternatives i feel very strongly need to be considered,” Agelasto said. “If my colleagues are supportive of a 60-day continuance, let us come together with the administration and flesh out what needs to happen … to get all our ideas out on the table so we can come up with a proposal that is more than a 20 percent funding plan.”
Agelasto’s comments followed Trammell’s initial call for a 60-day delay to meet with her constituents and better flesh out details of the proposal. After listening to other representatives’ opinions, Trammell and Ageleasto put forth a motion that would have been a compromise — a 30 day postponement that would put “all ideas on the table” at the finance committee meeting later this month and having the legal team vet and write any amendments before voting on March 12. The motion ultimately failed.
Newbille, who said 30 days was too long to wait, voted ‘no,’ as did Addison — who had just moments prior proposed waiting until July 1 when the budget would be final — Robertson and Jones, who promptly introduced his motion to hold the vote next Monday.
Council member Kim Gray, whose district’s businesses have been disproportionately affected by BRT and other Broad Street construction projects, said she has hundreds of emails to sift through from her 2nd District residents and was also in favor of delaying a vote until next month. All I know is I have a 100-year-old school that won’t be contemplated for 20 more years,” she said in response to Newbille’s impassioned appeal. “We all have schools that are 75-plus years old,” she said, adding there was distrust and skepticism among the public after the proposal was introduced in an unusual location — the Police Training Academy opposed to Council Chambers — during a 15-minute-long special meeting where the doors were locked.
“People understand if they don’t win the vote; they don’t understand if they’re not allowed to voice their opinion,” Gray said.
Along with Agelasto, Gray and 4th District council member Kristen Larson voted against moving the meals tax increase forward. Voting in favor were Newbille, Jones, Addison, 6th District representative Ellen Robertson and 3rd District representative and council President Chris Hilbert.
Larson expressed her disappointment after the meeting.
“It's a big item to consider, and more time is needed — the public wants to know what's going to happen and a couple weeks — give me a break,” she said. “You’re talking about $9 million and I’m heartbroken we can’t find some sort of middle ground on a couple weeks to [vet] this publicly.”