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Feb. 11 Newsletter: Affordable housing compromise

Weather: Highs in the mid 50s should accelerate the ice-melting process.

On this date in 1997, a high-wire walker falls during a circus performance at the Richmond Coliseum. The performer was hospitalized for several weeks, but the troupe returned to finish the show.

Today's newsletter sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University: As a top 50 public research institution, Virginia Commonwealth University has an unparalleled drive to discover, innovate and create. VCU impacts the human experience and tackles the problems of tomorrow. It's a university unlike any you’ve ever seen.

Avula, six City Councilors strike compromise on funding Affordable Housing Trust Fund

The new plan, which was introduced Monday night, would devote 2.5% of the prior year’s real estate taxes to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund beginning July 1, 2028.

Under a “transition plan,” the city would have the option of pulling the same amount of money from its capital improvements budget for the trust fund in the next two years. Read more here.

‘I do not want to make any of these cuts’: Kamras defends proposed RPS budget at Town Hall

After watching RPS employees protest ahead of a budget town hall meeting Superintendent Jason Kamras said he agrees with their sentiments, but is in the position of having to balance the district’s budget in a lean year, which means making tough decisions.

  • The state’s contribution to RPS is projected to rise by about $7 million, though that number is also low because of a more than 1,000-student drop in Average Daily Membership this year.
  • The budget also is missing $3 million in historic tax credits from the rebuilding of Fox Elementary, which were intended for fiscal year 2027 but accelerated to help balance this year’s budget.

“We discussed at that time, if we do that, it’s creating a hole for us a year from now,” Kamras said. “Well, it’s a year from now.” Read more here.

Pilot to examine energy costs at aging public housing complex

A new program will look at how energy efficiency upgrades throughout Whitcomb Court could both reduce energy costs and make residents’ lives a little more comfortable. 

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“We don’t even know that the meters and the billing are accurate. … So we're really going to help RRHA understand where they're losing money and losing energy and baseline all of the information, because we simply don't understand what's happening there.”

The Whitcomb project is just one of several energy efforts Richmond is focusing on in the East End. Read more here.

Council asks Avula admin to consider lower property taxes, higher pay for contract janitors

City Council voted Monday to ask the mayor to allocate about $1.1 million to cover pay increases for contract janitors who work at city buildings.

  • Richmond has a $20 per hour minimum wage, but it doesn't apply to contract workers.

They also asked the mayor to consider lowering the property tax rate by four cents per assessed $100, but deferred the request to next year's budget cycle. Read more here.

At VCU, impactful innovation follows multiple paths

VCU, a top 50 public research institution, leads all other Virginia public universities in licensing revenue generated from its inventions, according to AUTM, an association representing the academic research community.

Researchers across VCU’s campuses are increasingly building new business ventures, forming partnerships with companies, licensing technologies and collaborating with industry and government agencies in ways that directly shape patient care, public health, advanced manufacturing and even national security.

Read more about how VCU researchers are turning inventions into ventures and why industry and government are taking notice.

In other news

The editor's desk

It's crazy to think that the Stony Point mall opened in the same year as Short Pump's. Sometimes, it's tough to be a Southsider.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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