The Lynchburg city manager presented the city’s proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year on Thursday night, calling it a “maintenance budget” designed to sustain the city’s current level of services and investments without introducing new initiatives or cuts.
“Over the past several years, you have made significant, generational investments in public safety, infrastructure, lifelong learning, economic development and quality of life,” City Manager Wynter Benda said as he addressed the city council. “This year is about sustaining what we’ve built, protecting core services and ensuring residents see and feel the return on those investments. Maintenance is not a pause. It is stewardship, discipline and delivering on promises.”
The proposed budget, which includes the city’s general fund, smaller pots such as the airport and water funds, the capital improvement program, and more totals $620.7 million for the fiscal year that will start on July 1 and continue through June 30, 2027. That’s about a 12% increase from the adopted 2026 fiscal year budget, Benda said.
The proposed budget does not include changes to the city’s tax rates. It does include an increase in water and stormwater rates, resulting in an estimated additional $1.06 on the average residential monthly water bill. The water and stormwater funds are self-supporting and “must remain financially sustainable to meet regulatory requirements and infrastructure needs,” Benda said, such as consistently replacing the city’s aging water lines.
“Even with this increase, Lynchburg will remain well below the state average for combined water, sewer, and stormwater charges,” Benda said.
Benda said a highlight of the proposed budget is its continued emphasis on city workforce recruitment and retention. Included in the spending plan are a 2.5% cost of living adjustment for general city employees, a pay progression plan for sworn police and fire personnel, and a $2.1 million increase in the city’s contribution to Lynchburg City Schools to cover its compensation increases.
The city can invest in its workforce without increasing taxes largely because of an unexpected rate reduction with the Virginia Retirement System, said Donna Witt, the city’s chief financial officer, in an interview. The city will be paying about $3.2 million less to cover its employer contribution to the retirement system in fiscal year 2027 than it did in 2026, Witt said, and that money can be allocated to cover the city’s pay increases and progression plans.
The business-as-usual budget comes in the wake of last year’s heated budget season that ended in a reduction of the city’s real estate tax rate, cuts to some city services and staff positions, and confusion regarding buzzer-beater changes made before the budget was passed on the last day of the fiscal year.
Public engagement scheduled for the budget season
Lynchburg residents can learn about the proposed budget at a series of information sessions next month. The informal drop-in meetings are scheduled for:
- April 16, 3 to 5 p.m., Bruster’s in Ward 4
- April 17, 10 a.m. to noon, River Ridge Mall in Ward 3
- April 17, 3 to 5 p.m., MayLynn’s Creamery Boonsboro in Ward 1
- April 18, 10 a.m. to noon, Lynchburg Community Market in Ward 2
The first time residents can weigh in on the proposed budget in front of the city council will be during a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. April 23 in city hall.
Additional meeting information and budget resources, including a capital improvement project dashboard, can be found on the city’s budget webpage.
A closer look at the numbers and what’s next
Lynchburg saw about $1.5 million in inflationary and contractual cost increases between last year and this year, Witt said, but that was absorbed into city departments’ budgets. She asked department heads to keep budgets flat and not exceed their 2026 allocations.
Witt said she is anticipating moderate increases in city revenue for 2027, including an additional $1.5 million in real estate tax revenue thanks to new construction and an additional $1 million in personal property tax revenue thanks to the rising cost of new vehicles.
Other budget highlights, Benda said, include $3 million for renovations to Fire Station 1 and $30 million for school infrastructure improvement and maintenance — the second of three installments that will total $60 million. Benda added that the investment “does not represent expansion. It represents preservation — protecting what residents already own.”
The city is also prepared to allocate up to $1.3 million in additional funding to the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company, Witt said. The distribution of the one-time funds comes as a response to concerns that the public transportation service will see a reduction in state funding in 2027, which could trickle down and result in the loss of federal dollars that require match funding. The funding breakdown will be discussed at an April joint work session with the GLTC board and the city council, but for now, the proposed budget sets aside $800,000 for the transit service’s operations and $500,000 for a study to find more efficient ways to operate the system.
The council members did not discuss the budget after Benda’s presentation. Discussion is scheduled for a budget retreat on April 3, which residents can attend in person at the Lynchburg Police Department’s community room or stream online. The full proposed budget is live on the city’s website as of Thursday night.
The budget presented Thursday is a preliminary spending plan that will be discussed and could change throughout a series of additional budget meetings scheduled for April and May. The final budget reading and approval is scheduled for May 26.
Witt plans to retire at the end of the 2026 fiscal year, making this the last budget season of her more than 25-year career with the city.