Meals tax passing leaves Richmond split on school funding

Photo by Matt Chaney
Photo by Matt Chaney

City Council passed an ordinance to increase the city’s meals tax in a 7-2 vote last Monday. The tax, which will take effect July 1, is predicted to raise $9 million in annual revenue for Richmond Public School construction and renovation over the next five years.

The council voted to approve the meals tax ordinance the same day the Virginia General Assembly Senate passed a bill to disallow taxes to be raised for school development.

Mayor Levar Stoney, who introduced the tax increase, would not be allowed to raise taxes to fund RPS facilities modernization if the bill also passes in the House of Delegates, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. However, this would not affect the revenue to be raised from the passed meals tax ordinance.

Shannon Conway, who manages several local restaurants, spoke in opposition of the ordinance. Conway said that despite supporting school infrastructure improvement, she disagrees with the tax because it will only help a fraction of school needs.

“We are here in opposition of this tax because it underserves the students. We are here in opposition of this tax because it uses the kids of RPS as emotional leverage to circumvent the will of the people,” Conway said. “Frankly, we ought to be holding this body and the mayor more accountable for delivering a real answer to this decades-long issue.”

Ma’at Ahmed, a Binford Middle School student, said she doesn’t expect state-of-the-art improvement, but that she expects schools to be better for her younger brothers to attend.

“We should feel comfortable and safe,” she said. “Our school is more than 100 years old and it shows.”

Zahrya Coleman, also a Binford Middle School student, said she feels teachers get better treatment than students when it comes to technology updates.

“Computers that we have for our schools are missing keyboards and everything,” Coleman said. “It’s never money put into that, but teachers just got new computers and they’re touch-screen and everything … but they’re not the ones learning.”

Other students who spoke in favor of the ordinance requested construction include new football and track fields, smart boards, smaller classroom sizes, fresh carpets, better wi-fi and sidewalks.

RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said he acknowledged some people do not trust the money will actually go to schools. He pledged to hold himself accountable in light of the tax increase.

“If I recommend to the board to use any of these funds, one penny, for anything other than rebuilding our schools and building new ones, ask the RPS board to revoke my contract,” Kamras said.

Council President Chris Hilbert of the third district also made a promise to his constituents to be more transparent with the use of their tax dollars.

“The minute that I hear, see [or] have wind [that] any of this money is put into special funds that’s not used for debt service or any improvement of Richmond Public Schools, I will put in an ordinance to repeal it immediately,” Hilbert said.


Nia Tariq, Contributing Writer

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