Richmond restaurant asked to pay $424,000 in meals tax fees; city official claims issues aren’t widespread

RICHMOND, Va. -- A sign declaring "Virginia is for restaurant lovers" hangs inside Beauvine Burger Concept, located in Richmond's Fan District.

But co-owner Patrick Stamper has not been feeling the love, from the city at least, as he's yet another business owner caught up in a messy Richmond meals tax situation, ongoing for nearly four years.

"We generate a lot of revenue for the city, and there's no urgency to fix this. They don't care," Stamper said. “It's endlessly stressful, and the fact that, almost four years in, I still don't know who to call, who to email, how this ends, how this gets resolved, and no one does.”

It all started when Stamper was late on one meals tax payment from February 2020.

“We had paid full balances sometime in April. We forgot about it and just kept trying to deal with running a restaurant during a pandemic," Stamper said.

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At the time, Richmond was offering a covid amnesty program to waive late fees on meals tax payments associated with February 2020-June 2020. So, Stamper thought he was covered.

However, the program didn't automatically apply to restaurants. Owners were required to enroll. So, Stamper's payment was considered late.

The city began accruing penalties and interest on the late payment, but Stamper said no one ever told him that.

It wasn't until the summer of 2021 until he got the first notice from Richmond's Finance Department that he had an outstanding balance.

“They don’t explain any of it, and the numbers are crazy," Stamper said.

Stamper showed the CBS 6 all his documentation and communications with the finance department. Each notice he received contained vastly different balances, and some notices didn't contain a balance at all.

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At one point, Stamper said the city stated he owed $424,000.

"There's a quick moment of panic and then it's just ridiculous. It can't be real," he said.

After years of going back and forth with the city, he said it's still unclear how much he currently owes. The latest balance was apparently $86,000.

“Where do you stand now?" reporter Tyler Layne asked.

“I don't know, and I have no way of knowing," Stamper said.

“You have no clue?” Layne asked.

“No," Stamper responded.

Stamper has joined the growing list of business owners all experiencing similar meals tax problems and frustrated with the finance department.

Since Monday, in addition to Beauvine, CBS 6 has interviewed the owners of Latitude Seafood, Stella's, Richbrau Brewery, and Philly Vegan:

• "It's not right. It's completely immoral," said Kevin Grubbs of Latitude Seafood. 
• "They need to ask themselves, 'What would Henrico do?'" said John Giavos of Stella's. 
• "It's a mess over there. It's dysfunctional," said Matthew Mullett of Richbrau Brewery. 
• "It puts a bad taste in your mouth when the city doesn't have your back," said Samuel Veney of Philly Vegan.

Some other restaurant owners with similar concerns did not want to speak on the record due to fears of retaliation.

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CBS 6 has asked Mayor Levar Stoney to address business owners' concerns for three days in a row and has not received a direct response.

However, the mayor's spokesperson offered a virtual interview with Stoney's Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders on Thursday.

“Where is the mayor? And does he have anything to say about this?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.

“I think the mayor has said and would say that small businesses are the backbone of the city’s economy. We want them to thrive. We want them to be successful" Saunders said. “And with the meals tax, he has asked us to continue to take a look at any current cases as well as our processes overall.”

Saunders said the city is working to improve technology and communication systems and blamed finance mismanagement on previous administrations before Stoney took office seven years ago.

He said the finance department has gotten back into the routine of notifying businesses when they miss a tax payment, which he admitted was halted during the beginning of the pandemic.

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Saunders added he plans to meet with some individual business owners to address their concerns, but he would not specifically answer whether the city will clear penalties, interests, or certain balances for taxpayers.

"I do not believe there's a multitude of businesses that are still having outstanding issues," Saunders said. "I think we're dealing here with a handful of cases that have kind of worked their way through the review and appeals process and haven't been resolved."

Amid accusations from taxpayers that the finance department remains dysfunctional as tax representatives have provided incorrect advice and misinformation and have made mistakes contributing to significant burdens for business owners, CBS 6 asked Saunders if he had confidence in the operations and leadership of the finance department.

"Tyler, the answer is absolutely yes," Saunders responded.

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In a previous statement, Richmond City spokesperson Petula Burks said the responsibility falls onto the taxpayers to understand their obligations and address their own liabilities.

She equated not following the local and state tax codes to embezzlement – something Stamper called a "strong accusation."

"There's a good reason everyone's in this position, and it's not because everyone is embezzling money. It's because the city screwed this up," Stamper said.

He said all he wants is for his four-year meals tax headache to go away, but he's not surprised to see restaurant owners consider moving their businesses into the surrounding counties.

"I'm jealous of them. They have transparency. They can get answers. They have a finance department that apparently tells them what they owe," Stamper said about his counterparts in the counties.

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