Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor
The plan to strengthen Richmond’s water system could receive $50 million in state funding over the next year — but a utility cost hike in Mayor Danny Avula’s proposed city budget indicate a need for further funding for the city’s infrastructure needs.
The state funding is meant to support Richmond’s combined sewer overflow control project and is part of Virginia’s next budget set to be finalized during a special legislative session starting April 23.
The sewer project legislators plan to fund is one of several water system improvements in the city’s last capital improvement plan, which covered fiscal years 2022-2026. It involves building structures to divert water during high water intake events, and improving the capacity of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, a different facility in Southside.
DPU public information manager Rhonda Johnson said the proposed state funding would specifically support the design and construction of the Shockoe High Rate Disinfection facility, the largest item in the project and a key element of controlling James River contamination.
The $50 million to continue the project is short of the $80 million for several water infrastructure projects Avula requested last year in a letter to former Gov. Glenn Younkin, in which he stated more state funding would minimize the need for utility rate increases on Richmonders.
Avula presented the full budget proposal for the coming year to Richmond City Council on March 11. The proposal includes a $13.84 total utility rate increase per residence, according to Axios.
Estimated expenditures for the Department of Public Works broadly are also expected to increase by around 20%, from $505 million this fiscal year to $605 million in fiscal year 2027 according to a City Council work session document.
The budget must now be discussed and approved by City Council, which will revise the 585-page document through the spring.
Randolph Macon political science professor and “RVA’s Got Issues” podcast host Richard Meagher said the overall proposed budget for 2027 makes no wild swings in funding in any one direction but does make incremental changes to several programs. He said the utility rate hikes follow a pattern seen in many other localities.
“I’m not trying to say there’s something sinister about that,” Meagher said. “It’s just a cost rising. How do we raise more money to cover those costs if we’re not gonna raise taxes? What’s not a tax but the thing that everybody pays into the budget? Utility rates”
Most city residents and many in surrounding counties were left without potable water for nearly a week in January of 2025, after a power outage during a blizzard flooded Richmond’s main water treatment plant and shut down its IT system, according to a previous report by The CT.
The city has moved to prevent a similar occurrence at the main plant by improving equipment and through organizational changes to include the firing of former Department of Public Utilities director April Bingham, according to VPM.
Meagher noted that infrastructure improvements in general do not seem to be among the biggest focuses of the budget and the communications from the mayor’s office. He also said the kinds of investments needed to future-proof the water system could be beyond the city’s scope.
“That’s an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, and that can only come from the state,” Meagher said. “That’s the argument the city’s been making for years, and so it helps that it seems like there’s a friendly administration. They’re not gonna give him everything he wants, but if the budget goes the way we think it will, there will be some money this year to help with that infrastructure.”
Del. Rae Cousins, D-Richmond, stated in an email she was glad to vote in favor of the funding for the sewer overflow project.
“This $50 million allocation builds on the $100 million provided by the state in FY25-26 and demonstrates our shared commitment to protecting our waterways, updating aging infrastructure, and serving the people of Richmond,” Cousins stated.