Good afternoon,

I hope you had a good Easter weekend with family and friends.  The weather was beautiful!

It is budget season!  On Tuesday, March 23, Norfolk City Manager Pat Roberts presented the first iteration of the FY25 Norfolk City Council budget that would serve July 1, 2024 –  June 30, 2025.  Lots of discussion will take place between now and May 14 when we take the final vote.  There are several work sessions and a public hearing (April 10 at 6:00pm at Granby High School) that will take place in the coming weeks.  While this is a proposed budget I wanted to highlight a few key takeaways:

• Total Budget:  $1,973,164,989 that includes $323,122,220 in capital expenses
• Reduce the Real Estate Tax Rate from $1.25/$100 to $1.23/$100 of assessed value
• Projected revenue increase of 7.9%
• Team Norfolk:
  • 3.5% general wage increase
  • Compensation study to address compression and regional competitiveness
  • No healthcare premium increases
  • Public Safety:
    • 1% increase to pay scale and a step increase to sworn public safety employees and 911 personnel
    • Annual cancer screening for fire and rescue personnel
    • Continued wellness program for fire and police personnel
    • Retention bonus for all 911 call operators and telecommunications
• Libraries:  Expand hours at the anchor branches and Slover Library
• Recreation:  Renovate the tennis and pickleball courts at Lafayette Park, Lakewood Park and Berkley Park
• Traffic Calming:  Funding to support improved safety on Lafayette Blvd.
• Waterways:
  • Dredge sections of the Lafayette River around the areas of South Blake Road, Sir Oliver Road and Arden Circle
  • Repair the Hague bulkhead
  • Reduce flooding around Richmond Crescent and Surrey Crescent
• Arts/Culture:  Renovate and maintain the Chrysler Hall and Scope Arena
• Education:
  • Financially support the construction of Maury High School
  • Increase funding from the city to Norfolk Public Schools (NPS) by $8.6M over FY 2024, which bring the city’s share of their budget to $164.2M of the total $441M NPS budget

Additionally, the budget proposes the creation of a Homeless Task Force to comprehensively address homelessness in our city. And, the budget supports looking into a Housing Trust Fund concept.

I will continue to provide updates on the budget as the process moves along.

The Fred Heutte Center celebrated the 125th anniversary of the birth of Fred Heutte. Mr. Heutte was instrumental in establishing what we now know of as the Norfolk Botanical Garden. And, there is a Fred Heutte Center in the heart of Ghent with beautiful gardens and a renovated train station. And, did you know that Mr. Heutte was also key to Norfolk having all of the beautiful Crepe Myrtles in our city today?

Grady is living his best life at the Doyle household.  And, he loves March Madness!

Have a great weekend.

 

Cheers!

 

Courtney

 

At the Fred Heutte Center celebrating the 125 anniversary of Fred Heutte’s birth. 

 

Freemason Street Area Association meeting with Mayor Alexander 

 

Aerial view of Norfolk on the floor at the flood strategy open house. Fun to see the city from the air. 

Who owns this house? Grady watching basketball.