As Richmond’s departing finance director touts progress, she warns there are still ‘pockets of secrecy and sabotage’

In what will likely be her last presentation to the Richmond City Council, departing Finance Director Sheila White said the office she’s led has made substantial progress, while warning that “pockets of secrecy and sabotage” remain.

White gave the Council’s Finance and Economic Development Committee a status update Wednesday as she prepares to leave city government on July 25. After leading the city’s struggling Finance Department since 2021, White told Council members that — from her perspective — a turnaround is underway even if it’s not obvious to businesses and residents experiencing problems with their tax bills.

Overall, White said, “the future is bright,” but there will be problems that arise as officials “move through this disruption of systems and cultures that have existed for decades.”

“This will not be and cannot be a quick fix,” White said. “It will take time to complete the work. And at points it’s going to feel like we’re going backwards. I promise you that that is not the case. It takes time to execute on technology and change management. And it is going to be uncomfortable.”

One of White’s presentation slides at Wednesday’s meeting described the department’s culture as it used to be versus where it stands today. In the past, the slide said, there were “cliques,” “diminished professionalism,” a “lack of urgency” and “secrecy and sabotage.”

In the present, the slide said, there’s a more cohesive and professional team with a stronger focus on the customer. But there are still “pockets of resistance to adherence to core values,” “pockets of cliques” and “pockets of secrecy and sabotage.”

The list of aspirations for the future included a “culture of excellence adhered to by all employees” and the “right people in the right seats.”

White didn’t go over each item on the slide, and none of the three Council members on the committee asked White to elaborate on how sabotage affects the Finance Department’s culture.

An outside consultant brought in to help the city assess its finance challenges used the same word in a report issued July 9, which also painted an unflattering picture of the Finance Department’s culture.

“Work is routinely passed up to management when obstacles are encountered without adequate demonstration of critical thinking and resolution skills,” consultant Anne Seward wrote in the report. “Far too many instances of missed deadlines, poor work product and inadequate work volumes have been experienced and documented during the engagement. Additionally, instances of insubordination, sabotage and undermining of the team's success and leadership efforts were witnessed routinely.”

Like White, Seward said department leaders have begun to rectify the situation by setting new expectations.

“Cultural standards have been developed to curb deficient performance behavior,” Seward wrote. “Management training and accountability tools have been provided for use in raising service delivery standards will require consistent leadership by strong managers and supervisors to achieve lasting change.”

The Finance Department’s struggles have been on full display for many Richmonders this year. 

After the Council and former Mayor Levar Stoney approved a one-time rebate on real estate taxes last fall, the department made several errors while attempting to mail those payments. The checks were supposed to go out early in the year, but property owners just received them in the last few weeks.

In another significant mailing error, the department erroneously sent out tens of thousands of real estate tax bills to property owners themselves instead of the mortgage lenders that are supposed to receive the bills and make the payments. The amounts on the bills were correct, but the mistake created confusion for many residents who were unsure whether they had to pay the bill or do anything to ensure the lender could pay it.

On Wednesday, White suggested there’s more to the story of what’s been happening in the Finance Department.

The office has made significant strides in cleaning up the transfer of Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Data to enable the city to assess car taxes, even though the automation of that process created new technical difficulties that caused a few hundred taxpayers to get incorrectly high bills for older vehicles.

The department’s internal metrics also show customers are generally more satisfied with the service they receive, White said. In 2024, 44.7% of customers gave high ratings on satisfaction with the service. For 2025, the number is at 55.9%.

“We have to engage our customers and be accessible so that we can humanize City Hall,” White said.

She also touted a new self-service portal for businesses and the adoption of the online RVAPay tool for car tax payments, which will soon be expanded to cover more types of payments to the city.

White’s departure from City Hall didn’t come as a major surprise given the ongoing staffing changes occurring as the government transitions from the Stoney era to a new leadership team brought in by Mayor Danny Avula.

White worked closely with former high-ranking city administrator Sabrina Joy-Hogg, who served as acting chief administrative officer for the first few months of Avula’s tenure before leaving last month to return to a similar role in Newport News. Avula’s pick for the CAO job, former Atlanta official Odie Donald II, started in Richmond last week, just as White’s upcoming resignation was announced.

On Wednesday, Council members thanked White for her contributions to the city. Some even seemed to express regret that she was leaving in the midst of major changes in the Finance Department.

“This is not the right time for a transition without a detailed strategy to make sure we don’t lose anything,” said Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District).

Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) suggested the Council could ask White more detailed questions in writing before she leaves.

“We are responsible to answer to our constituents,” Lynch said. “They don’t get to see the underbrush that’s been cleared out and some of the work that’s been done. What they see is hey, we’re still experiencing trouble. We haven’t seen the results.”

Lynch said she doesn’t see the lingering problems as a reflection on White’s work for the city.

“We have seen you really take the ship and try to steer the Titanic,” Lynch said.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org