by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Fredericksburg’s proposed budget was presented to City Council this evening against the backdrop of challenging economic times and pressing city needs. Nonetheless, said City Manager Tim Baroody in his prepared remarks, “I still firmly believe that the City of Fredericksburg has ‘unlimited potential.’”
The proposed balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2025 totals $126,294,000 and represents a $4,259,000 increase over the 2024 budget, or an increase of 4.3%. The increase requires a real estate tax bump of $0.05 above the equalized tax rate. This increase includes a $0.01 Fire Tax increase to support purchasing apparatus now, and supporting a third fire station in coming years.
Property values have risen significantly, however. This is a reassessment year, and based on the City’s preliminary estimate for the new land book value, the City projects that the equalized tax rate for 2025 will be $0.72 per $100 of assessed value. With the $0.05 increase, that brings the proposed real estate tax rate to $0.77 per $100 of assessed value; $0.12 below the 2024 rate. (NB: This number may change, as the assessment process has not been finalized.)
Spending in 2025
The amount requested by the City’s departments for 2025 totaled $135 million, and included funds to hire 30 new individuals. The City’s proposed budget cannot meet that requested total, so as is typical the city manager made reductions.
Instead of 30 new positions, the proposed budget includes funds for three new General Fund positions, and one part-time position for aiding the City’s community communications.
A key element in this year’s proposed budget is a pay increase for staff to improve recruitment and retention. The City is proposing a 2.5% across-the-board pay-scale increase, and a 2.5% increase along the scale for both public safety and nonpublic safety employees. These increases are projected to keep Fredericksburg competitive with neighboring localities.
The budget also includes $32,665,000 for public schools. That’s an increase of $1,915,000 over 2024. This total includes $7,132,000 to cover school debt service, of which $3 million is for the new middle school currently under construction.
The school’s budget put forward by Superintendent Marci Catlett included $4.7 million in unfunded needs. Even with the historic increase in funding the city is offering, the school system still faces about $2.7 million in unfunded needs. There is a scheduled joint meeting between the School Board and the City Council on April 2.
The proposal also includes funding for dozens of small projects to be undertaken by the Parks and the Public Works departments. These include work on the trails, sidewalks, sewer master plan, tree work, energy efficiency upgrades, manhole repairs, tennis courts updates, and Buffet Pool enhancements, among others.
Legacy Projects
The budget presentation also included discussion of a number of legacy projects. Among the most important is the financial software upgrade that has been about four years in the making. Among the benefits will be modernizing the system and creating more user-friendly online applications.
The new middle school is now underway and is expected to open late in summer 2025. The project adds 1,100 seats to the schools’ overall capacity and creates substantially more CTE programming space.
Contracts for new remote-read water meters are being finalized, and they should be installed over the next 18 months. These meters improve the accuracy of readings and reduces staff time reading said meters.
The site for Fire Station No. 3 will be on the Fall Hill corridor just east of I95. An RFP for engineering services is being finalized and should be out this summer.
The sewer plant expansion and upgrade has garnered $56 million from three different awards from Virginia. State formula grants are expected to bring total outside funding to more than $100 million. However, ratepayers still face a significant lift to generate the necessary funds to carry out the $150 million project.
Public Engagement
There are six scheduled meetings on the budget, and the public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16 at 7 PM. Hearings for potential tax rate increases will also be heard then.
City Council must adopt the budget for the schools by May 15.
City Schools’ Superintendent Marci Catlett told the Advance that “we appreciate that City Council recognizes the unique circumstances that we are facing next fiscal year. At this point, we are optimistic for increased state funds that may be allocated. We look forward to the joint School Board and City Council meeting to address the complexity of our unfunded needs.”
The balance of the budget must be adopted by June 30, but staff is hoping to have the entire budget adopted by May 14.
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