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March 28 Newsletter: Plastic bag tax on the way?

Weather: Sunny and 72. Best day of the week.

On this date in 1983, the legal drinking age in Virginia is changed from 18 to 19. Two years later it is increased again, to 21.

Richmond City Council to consider plastic bag tax this spring

This spring, City Council will consider whether to impose a 5 cent tax on plastic bags used by grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores across the city. 

  • If approved, the measure could go into effect as soon as January 2026.

It would make Richmond the 11th local government in Virginia and the first in the region to impose a bag tax since the General Assembly gave cities and counties the option to do so in 2020. In 2021, Council pledged to work towards imposing the tax.

Read more on how it would be administered, and how much would be given to shop owners, here.

Avula’s first Richmond budget includes $9.6M more for schools and higher utility bills, but no tax increases

Richmond Mayor Danny Avula unveiled his first budget on Thursday, which begins a cycle of deliberation from City Council.

  • The budget will raise the average utility bill by $13 per month, but does not raise taxes.
  • Salaries will increase for many employees, including average increases of 10.3% for police officers and firefighters.

The budget is about $55 million more than last year's, but Avula said that isn't enough to keep up with rising costs.

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Richmond Public Schools were given an additional $9.6 million in funding over last year's number, but the School Board said that increase "falls short of what our children need" after asking for $30.8 million in additional funding.

See more, including why the city feels disadvantaged compared to its neighbors, here.

What happened with the erroneous tax rebate checks?

The city sent out about 6,200 erroneous tax rebate checks this month before officials realized a data processing error had caused the same recipient name to be repeated over and over again.

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Richmonders surprised to get a check from the city payable to “Hartshorn Community Council” can throw them out, officials said. New checks will be issued.

The data error occurred as information was being moved through a “manual process in Excel.” A quality control process also didn’t catch the issue before checks started going out in the mail.

After members of the finance department took responsibility, they were lauded for owning the mistake and not ducking accountability.

“We’re in the middle of a culture shift,” Finance Director Sheila White said. Read more here.

In other news

The editor's desk

It was a "magical" night at The Jefferson on Thursday as The Virginia Home held its annual event, featuring longtime NFL player turned magician Jon Dorenbos. The Virginia Home, which dates back to the 1800s, is in the process of building a new campus in Hanover that will allow it to better serve the disabled community.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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