Fredericksburg City Manager Tim Baroody took a moment during Tuesday’s city council meeting to note several key dates for his proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget, as well as one of significance to a key architect of the document.
“I will take a minute to say it’s [Finance Director] Amanda Six’s birthday tonight,” Baroody said, after thanking Six and her team for their role in crafting the budget, which governs the city’s expenditures starting July 1.
Tuesday celebrated the opening of budget season in the city, with Baroody and Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley handing out hard copies of the document to councilors following a brief overview presentation.
The budget, which is viewable on the city’s website, calls for $144 million in general fund expenditures. That’s an increase of 3.3% from the approved FY2026 budget.
By a wide margin, the largest two spending categories are education ($38 million, 27% of all expenditures) and public safety ($36.9 million, 26%).
Baroody mentioned several projects that are factored into the budget, including Fire Station 3 (which goes before the planning commission on March 12) and the Hazel Run sanitary sewer line. He also noted that construction of the Motts Run water treatment plant, a joint venture with Spotsylvania County, will conclude during FY27.
While city departments requested 40 new positions, Baroody said, the proposed budget includes just seven, plus an additional two part-time positions being converted to full time. They consist of four firefighter positions, a policy analyst in human resources and a revenue collection specialist in the treasurer’s office. The part-time positions proposed for conversion are a permit technician in the planning and building department and a police records position.
The budget predicts what Baroody described as “moderate” year-over-year growth in the city at 2.72%. Water and sewer rates are predicted to go up by 8%, or an average of $6 per month for the average user, the city manager said.
Coming up
On March 17, city council will hold a budget work session, then, on April 7, councilors will huddle with the school board to hash out gaps in Superintendent Marci Catlett’s proposed budget, which was approved by a 4-1 vote on March 2.
Public hearings on both the budget and the proposed real estate tax rate are scheduled for April 21 at 7 p.m.
