Chesapeake’s proposed budget includes money for public safety training academy, pay increases
CHESAPEAKE — The city’s nearly $2 billion proposed budget and capital improvement plan earmarks more than $100 million to fund a new public safety training academy in southern Chesapeake, along with general wage increases and additional funding for open space preservation.
The proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2025 is $1.6 billion, which represents a nearly 4% increase from the previous adopted budget. The total proposed budget is nearly $2 billion when including the city’s capital improvement plan.
City Manager Christopher Price and Budget Director Jonathan Hobbs presented the proposed spending plan to City Council members this week during a work session. Residents have the opportunity to weigh in on the budget throughout April during upcoming work sessions ahead of the regular council meetings. Council members are expected to adopt the budget in May, and it will span from July 1 to June 30, 2025.
The proposed budget doesn’t include any new fees, but homeowners can expect to see slightly higher tax bills because of a nearly 4.5% increase in real estate assessments citywide — still a slower rate of growth than the previous two years. In the city’s past two fiscal budgets, council reduced the real estate tax rate by 4 cents, making it $1.01 per $100 of valuation, to help offset steep increases in assessments. The proposed fiscal 2025 budget keeps the rate at $1.01.
About $390.5 million in real estate tax revenue is expected for fiscal 2025, which is 4.3% more than the fiscal 2024 budget. But a change in the proposed budget is the dedication of a half-cent of real estate tax to the city’s lockbox to help fund debt service on the new public safety training academy project. The half-cent dedication is expected to generate nearly $1.8 million, with all allocations to the city lockbox totaling $29 million in fiscal 2025.
The new training facility is a top priority in the capital improvement program and is expected to cost a total of $150 million. The fiscal 2025 budget earmarks $104.5 million for the project. The academy will be located on a portion of the Heritage Park site near Fire Station 7 and Saint Brides Road and will include multiple classrooms, housing for training administration, indoor shooting ranges, burn buildings, a confined space maze, a vehicle extrication training area, canine training area and other outdoor training facilities.
The proposed budget also includes more than $9 million for a 3.5% general wage increase for employees, some of whom may receive more as a market adjustment that keeps Chesapeake workers’ pay competitive and within the top three cities in Hampton Roads.
For the 2023 fiscal budget, council increased the city’s meal tax to 6%. Over the previous two fiscal years, actual revenue from the meal tax has grown 21.1% and 19.7%, respectively, with city leaders attributing the increases to inflation in the prices of groceries and prepared meals along with wage increases that enabled persistent consumer expenditures. For the proposed fiscal budget, restaurant food tax revenue is expected to be $45 million, a 14% increase from last year’s budget.
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About $861 million will fund the city’s capital improvement plan through 2029, with $367.5 million allocated in 2025. City leaders said the capital budget is being heavily impacted by inflation, leading to some projects no longer being fully funded and in need of additional funding down the road. Besides the new training academy, other major priorities in the plan include about $8.7 million for facility maintenance — particularly the replacement of security technology — and $3.1 million in new funding for the acquisition and preservation of open space and agricultural land.
The budget also includes the addition of 20 new deputy sheriff and deputy sergeant positions for the sheriff’s office following the closure of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Additional state revenue will allow for four more behavioral health case workers for the sheriff’s office as well.
Per a council request, the cost of concealed carry permit fees were also cut in half and now cost $25.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
