Budget business
New City Manager Chip Boyles has released a proposed budget for the 2022 fiscal year.
Even after coronavirus revenue losses, the $190.6 million plan is just a hair smaller—around $500,000 less—than the current operating budget. The new budget does not raise taxes, and includes budget increases for multiple departments and commissions.
The Charlottesville Police Department would receive an additional nearly $900,000, boosting its budget to almost $19 million.
According to Finance and Debt Manager Krissy Hammill, the department requested more funding because its body-worn cameras can no longer be paid for by the Capital Improvement Program. In addition, funds will go toward computers officers use while in the field, which are “old and outdated.”
The proposed budget also reflects a pay increase for several city departments from fiscal year 2020.
The Police Civilian Review Board will receive an extra $200,000, which will be used to hire an executive director. And $225,000 will be set aside for hiring the first-ever deputy city manager for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Nearly $7 million will be spent on affordable housing initiatives, including the redevelopment of public housing sites.
Because Boyles has only been on the job since February 15, most work on the budget had been done without him. However, his comments and directions were “very well received,” he said during a press conference on Friday.
The next budget work session is March 4, and the plan will be finalized in April.
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Quote of the week
“If the police can’t demonstrate where the dollars are going, then cut them off. Otherwise you’re being extorted [by] an armed group, and you can’t hold them accountable.”
—City resident Brad Slocum on the lack of transparency in the Charlottesville Police Department budget
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In brief
Bombs away
The Virginia State Police Bomb Squad was called to the Downtown Mall on Saturday afternoon when a suspicious package was spotted on Fourth Street. The device was in fact explosive, and the bomb squad executed a small controlled detonation. Law enforcement is searching for more clues about the provenance of the device.
Internal issues
The Charlottesville Police Department has investigated the Charlottesville Police Department, and found that the Charlottesville Police Department was not guilty of racial profiling in a January incident in which white Officer Joseph Wood detained Black local musician LaQuinn Gilmore by the side of the road. The department’s internal investigation process found that Wood detained Gilmore unlawfully, though the report says the “takedown” move that sent Gilmore to the hospital was executed with legal technique. Gilmore was not charged with any crime before or after the altercation.
Officers cleared in Xzavier Hill shooting
The Virginia State Police troopers who shot and killed 18-year-old Xzavier Hill were justified in their actions, ruled a grand jury on Friday. Along with the verdict, the police released dash cam footage of the incident, which protesters and family members had been calling for since news of Hill’s death first broke. In the footage, Hill can be seen speeding down I-64 before pulling off onto the side of the road after officers began pursuit. Two officers then approached Hill’s car with their guns drawn. It is impossible to tell from the footage what Hill was doing inside the car. Hill was shot before the car door ever opened.
Woman struck by car during protest
On Friday, before the grand jury verdict was released, protesters from Black Lives Matter 757 marched through town calling for racial justice. As the protesters moved through the intersection of 10th and West Main, a truck drove through a red light and hit a woman in a crosswalk. The woman, who was not affiliated with the protest, sustained minor injuries. After the incident, Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney was critical of the protesters, saying in a statement, “The behaviors exhibited today do not unify the community or keep the community safe.”
