City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, MAYOR HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD FOUR CITY COUNCIL HON. JANNAN W. HOLMES, AT-LARGE HON. WILL B. MACKINTOSH, PH.D., AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. JONATHAN A. GERLACH, WARD TWO Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. SUSANNA R. FINN., WARD THREE Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Joint Work Session with School Board April 1, 2025 Fredericksburg City Financial Presentation School Board Financial Presentation General Budget Discussion The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, April 1, 2024, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Walker-Grant Center. Council Present. Mayor Kerry P. Devine. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Council members, Susanna R. Finn, Jonathan A. Gerlach, Jason N. Graham, Jannan W. Holmes and Dr. Will B. Mackintosh. School Board Present. Chair Matt Rowe, Presiding. Vice-Chair Kathleen Pomeroy, Jarvis Bailey (6:05), Jennifer Boyd, Malvina Rollins Kay and Molly McFadden. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Deputy City Manager Mark Whitley, Deputy City Manager David Brown, City Attorney Kelly Lackey, Finance Director Amanda Six, Senior Budget Analyst LaToya Marshall-Gronhoff and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Superintendent Marci Catlett, Chief Academic Officer Lori Bridi, Chief of Finance Jennifer Brody, Chief Operations/Information Officer Michael George, Director of Teacher Quality Tristen Fidler, Michelle Young, School Board Clerk Angela Roenke. Roll Call. The Clerk of the Council called the roll and determined a quorum of the City Council was present. The Clerk of the School Board called the roll and determined that a quorum of the School Board was present. Fredericksburg City Financial Presentation. Finance Director Six presented the city budget. In her presentation she discussed the FY 2026 General Fund Expenditures, School Funding, City’s Contribution Cost to Regional Detention Facilities, Debt Service Transfer, 1 Workforce, FY 2026 General Fund Revenues, Revenue Highlights, Real Estate Tax Recommendation, Tax Assistance Programs, Financial Stabilization Levers and Budget Calendar. (See Attachment I for more information). Disclosures. Vice-Mayor Frye disclosed that his wife was employed by the Fredericksburg schools, but he could participate in the discussions fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Councilor Holmes disclosed that she was a member of a business, profession, occupation, or group of three or more members affected by the transactions, namely, she provides services to students of Fredericksburg City Schools under a grant funded contract but she is able to participate in the transactions fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Chairman Rowe asked how the 90% appropriation would work, and Mr. Whitley explained that the appropriation would be 100% but the City will ask that only 90% be spent until City Council has a chance to review things throughout the year and determine if it needs to continue holding back or whether they can release the funds. The total amount of holdback would be $12 million and for schools it is about $3 million. He said they will be talking with schools throughout. Chairman Rowe asked Chief Finance Officer Brody if this is the action the City Council takes how would it affect the FCPS. Ms. Broady said it would be challenging because salaries and benefits are just shy of 90% then you have the costs of operating the facilities. She said they would have to suggest a spending freeze and it may happen earlier in the year. She said they would need to be proactive. School Board Financial Presentation. Ms. Brody presented a presentation, and she discussed: the Division Profile, Budget Priorities, Budget Initiatives, Operating Revenue – State, Federal Funding, Additional Budgetary Impacts, Gladys West Elementary Budget by Function, Operating Fund Revenues and Expenditures, Operating Fund Summary, Grants and Special Revenue Fund Summary, Capital Fund Summary, School Board Approved Budget Summary and Next Steps. (See Attachment II for more information). Councilor Graham asked about the location of the behavior support classroom and who it would be available to. Ms. Brody said it would be located at the Gladys West School and it would be available to all three elementary schools. He asked about the transportation to Gladys West School, and she said the transportation details had not been worked out yet. He 2 asked if this would be a group of students identified at once or individual students. Ms. Brody clarified that it would be individual students. Chief Academic Officer Bridi explained that it would be very fluid, and staff would be farmed out to support other areas. Kids would come and go, and it would be individually based. There will be kids that need more support than others. The goal is for it to be a short amount of time to address behaviors that are disruptive to everyone’s learning. The behaviors are those that they have seen more since COVID. He asked how many students the classroom would have at one time. She said it would depend on the types of behavior. Councilor Holmes stated that kindergartner’s and fifth graders’ needs are different, and she asked what the implications were for having them both in the same classroom. She said they may be in the same place but may not receive the same instruction because the instructions will be individualized. Councilor Holmes said the instructional assistance that will be in kindergarten might be able to help with some of the kindergartens so that they will not end up in the behavior support classroom and Ms. Bridi said that is correct. Vice-Mayor Frye asked if there would have to be parental consent to place the kids in the behavior support classroom. Ms. Bridi said the parent would have to consent to the kids being placed in the program. Councilor Mackintosh said he admired the focus on recruitment and retention of staff. He asked whether they were at full staff and Ms. Brody said basically they are full staff. She said they are seeing a lot more people coming and going and they are struggling to find enough qualified teachers. He asked about the impact from families who are facing financial strain and pulling their kids out of private school and reenrolling them in city schools. She said they tend to see more students coming rather than going. There are families that maybe doubling up. Councilor Mackintosh asked if they are covered in terms of equipment since they had not received the funding for their new electric buses. Ms. Brody said they are covered because they trade a bus to get a bus. Councilor Gerlach asked if the money for the buses was a rebate, and she said it was a rebate, but you receive the rebate up front before purchasing the buses. Councilor Finn asked Ms. Brody what she had heard about the Eligibility Provision Calculations. She said when she talks about federal funds that are at risk it is because she is hearing information from all sorts of groups but she received information from a Nutrition Advocacy Group and if you are at 40% free lunch you can qualify for Community Eligibility 3 Provision (CEP). She said that number could go up to 60%. The current eligibility rate is just under 60% and her concern would be that they are under the required percentage. Councilor Holmes asked about the support positions that the state approved and whether they would be Standards of Quality (SOQ) positions. Ms. Brody said they are and during the recession there was a cap placed on SOQ funds that could be spent on non- instructional support positions, but the number of instructional positions has gone up. The funding for non-instruction support positions has not gone up and school divisions have lost significant amounts of money over the years. Councilor Graham asked for clarification on the federal versus the local fiscal calendar year and Ms. Brody said she was referring to the local fiscal year. Councilor Holmes asked if Head Start was on Federal fiscal year and Ms. Brody said it was not. The grant starts at different times and the City’s start April 1. They have provided them with six-months funding that will take them through the end of September. She said with all the things that are happening now it puts them at risk for receiving the funding. She said she did not know that would happen if they did not receive the funding. Councilor Holmes asked what Title-I funding covers and Ms. Bridi said majority of the funding covers personnel and a small percentage goes to instructional programing. Ms. Pomerroy said the difference between the City recommended budget and the schools asking is $1.5 million, they have the 10 percent hold back which is a little more than $3 million, and if the HeadStart money does not come in which is almost a million dollars that totals well over $5 million. She said that it is scary, and she is wondering where the money would come from to educate the children. Ms. Brody said they have an internal working group trying to work through options so they will be ready. Vice-Mayor Frye said it hurts to hear this, and many people are already struggling, that is why we have the Title I schools. He said this is hard for the Council to hear this. Mayor Devine said the uncertainty is very frustrating and to not have clear direction from the state or federal government was frustrating. She said this is a horrible predicament to be in. The cuts will hurt personnel for the City and the schools. She was afraid this was going to be a painful year. 4  General Budget Discussion. Councilor Gerlach stated that he had asked if there was anyway the City could receive advanced payments for personal property from data centers and Mr. Baroody said they were working through a water service agreement with the end user and that process would take them through the end of the year. He said it was a long shot but maybe they would have something by the end of the year regarding their abilities to prepay for infrastructure but he would not suggest it has great potential to create operations revenue anytime within the next several fiscal years. Chairman Rowe asked when the City was going to set its advertised rate and Mayor Devine told him that they advertised $.06 which was $.03 higher than the recommended increase. He asked how much one penny represented and Ms. Six said it was $585,000. Dr. Catlett said the challenges keep coming but she knows that everyone values education with the same goals in mind and she wants to do what is right by the students. She thanked everyone for working together as they do. She said this has made a difference in the way the school have progressed. Mr. Baroody said he was grateful on behalf of City staff for the cooperation and collaboration the schools offered on the recently passed Memorandum of Understating (MOU) between the School Board and City Council. He said without the MOU they city would struggle to provide the students opportunities for recreation. He said the one new position that was proposed in the City budget was a parks position that is meant to make a strong statement with the students. Mayor Devine said collaborative work is important for the kids. Proposition. Mayor Devine proposed reinstating the SPCA with full funding which was accidentally deleted. Councilor Holmes said last year they asked the Continuum of Care to evaluate organization that shelter the unhoused and Thurman Brisben has been a part of this in the past but this year asked not to be evaluated. She said Empowerhouse has continued to do a lot of work for the community, and they have been at level funding for years she recommended transferring $14,650 from Thurman Brisben request and $11,000 from Thurman Brisben to the Lois Anne Hope House. This would be a reduction of $25,650 to Thurman Brisben. Councilor Frye said it was the Council’s job to vet agencies on their work in the community because there are other agencies that request funds and the Council is unable to support them. 5  Councilor Holmes suggested having a small support group to go through the agency binder because it is a lot for everyone to look into. Chair Rowe said the School Board was appreciative of the conversation and the partnership it has with the City Council and they will continue to work together. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Devine declared the session officially adjourned at 7:42 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 6