HAMPTON, Va. — ’Tis the season for holiday decorations, like the ones at Carousel Park in Hampton. But not every Hampton resident is entirely pleased.
“This is not being a good steward of taxpayer money," said Hampton resident Brenda Marks.
Marks said she’s not a Grinch and, in fact, loves seeing Christmas decorations.
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What she doesn’t love is how much money the city spent on them. Records she got from the city through a Freedom of Information Act request show the city spent nearly $170,000.
“Don’t tell me you can’t reduce my taxes because you’re not going to have money to fund programs that you want to fund and then turn around and go wild with the decorations," Marks emphasized.
To be fair, the city did reduce the real estate tax rate for the 2026 fiscal year by one cent. Many residents, however, including Marks, asked for a two cent reduction.
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Marks made a Facebook post expressing her concerns about the lights and it drew comments from others who agree.
She takes issue with the amount of money spent because, she said, the city manager indicated during the city’s FY26 budget process money was tight and there was a lot of economic uncertainty.
“This year presented unprecedented challenges, such as the downsizing of the federal workforce, the imposition of new tariffs by the federal government, and the resulting market uncertainties," Hampton City Manager Mary Bunting said while discussing the budget during a City Council work session in April.
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Marks is also concerned because the city is renting most of the decorations instead of buying them and reusing them, making her wonder if the city will be shelling out big bucks to decorate every year.
The city manager declined News 3's request for an interview for this story, but in a statement said, in part, "This year, our traditional major holiday stage — Wonder Walk and Water Walk — is not available due to construction work at the Coliseum Lake area. Accordingly, we opted to use funds we would usually spend there for additional lights in Downtown and Buckroe.”
