Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - Mayor Levar Stoney on Wednesday announced his final budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year.
He plans to utilize $2.9 billion and put one billion of that amount into the general fund. In total, there is nearly $16 million for public schools, plus all city employees. Police and first responders would see minimum wage increases.
The plan also includes additions to the Shockoe Project – a site Richmond officials say will be a “comprehensive, experiential destination that places Richmond at the center of the American story by recognizing the history of enslaved and free Africans and people of African descent.”
Mayor Stoney has proposed adding $13 million in the 2025 fiscal year to the project along with $10.1 million for fiscal years 2026-2029 geared towards the planning, designing, land acquisition and construction of a multi-use enslaved African cultural and heritage park-like campus that will surround the future National Slavery Museum.
“Given Shockoe Bottom’s history as a center of the domestic slave trade, the Shockoe Project presents an opportunity for truth-telling, healing, and reconciliation,” Stoney wrote in his proposed budget plan. “By acknowledging and confronting the city’s past, the project promotes social justice, racial equity, and healing, contributing to a more inclusive and equitable future for Richmond and its residents.”
Stoney’s budget plan will now go to the City Council for approval.
