HAMPTON, Va. — It's your money - do you want input on how it's spent? Cities across Hampton Roads are currently working on their fiscal year 2025 budgets and want to hear from you.
Hampton city manager Mary Bunting says a lot of items are typically covered in a budget, like funding for the police, fire department, libraries, public works, parks and recreation and more.
She said they also set aside money for big projects like building a school or community center.
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For the city of Hampton for FY24, the budget was around $500 million. Right now, Bunting is proposing around $600 million for FY25.
Bunting said it's important to attend public input sessions to let you voice be heard.
“That gives both the council and me a pretty good sense on how the public is feeling, about their priorities and where they’d like to see their tax dollars go,” said Bunting.
A city's budget is much like a household budget- you don't want to spend more than you bring in. For a city, most revenue comes from your tax dollars.
“The budget is really an expression of the community’s values and priorities when you get down to it, it’s like a catalog of services, it’s what we are buying with our tax dollars,” said Bunting.
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Across the seven cities, many input sessions are happening Tuesday night and throughout the week.
- Virginia Beach: Tuesday at 6 p.m.
- Hampton: Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
- Norfolk: Input period closed
- Newport News: City manager recommendations Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
- Chesapeake: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
- Suffolk: Possible input session on May 1
Fiscal year 2025 starts in July. Most budgets will be approved in the first week or two of May.
