RICHMOND, Va. — The City of Richmond still cannot say how many taxpayers may have credits sitting on their business accounts, more than three years after the inspector general's office launched an investigation into why the city wasn't refunding such credits back to taxpayers.
Local News
Richmond can't say how many refund notifications they've sent to taxpayers
Last year, under the previous administration, the city entered into a $345,000 contract with external consultants in part to conduct an audit to find out how many accounts have business tax credits and for how much.
Through a public records request, CBS 6 obtained a draft report issued by the consultants over the summer. However, the draft report did not contain any information about tax credits. City spokesperson Michael Hinkle said he was unsure why that information was missing from the draft report but said a final report is forthcoming at some point.
CBS 6 asked Mayor Danny Avula on Wednesday about the issue.
“Do you have that data? Do you know how many credits exist and what the total could be on that? And do you know when notifications will start going out to business owners?" reporter Tyler Layne asked.
"I don't. I know our finance department is working on this, so we'll have to follow up with you on that," Avula said.
But time is of the essence, because under the law, credits essentially expire after three years.
“Is there any concern about the urgency behind this?" Layne asked. "Because every day, credits are going out statute because there’s a three-year mark to claim that credit."
“Absolutely. I think one of our basic functions, and where our commitment to the public—like finance department is one of the best examples of where we've got to instill trust. Obviously, in the early months, we saw a lot of missteps with the finance department, but we've completely changed out our finance department leadership, right? We brought a new finance director, a new deputy chief administrative officer, and obviously a new chief administrative officer, and they're working really hard to rebuild that team. So there's absolutely a sense of urgency to make sure that we can give people money back where they're owed," Avula said.
Hinkle said finance is working to make sure credits don't expire by focusing on the oldest ones first and transferring those amounts to any outstanding balances taxpayers may have.
A draft inspector general report obtained by CBS 6, that was never published or officially released to the public, cited $3 million in credits that the finance department wrote off into the city's general fund between 2017 and 2022. According to the report, investigators did not find that the city mishandled tax credits and write-offs because the law did not require the city to inform taxpayers of credits.
Local News
Report: Richmond kept millions in business tax credits without notifying owners
But in response to the investigation, the previous city council passed an ordinance in March 2024 that requires finance to notify taxpayers when credits are identified and invite them to apply for a refund. A city spokesperson previously told CBS 6 that finance was waiting for the external audit to be completed before sending out those notifications.
The city does not have a projected timeline on when a final audit report will be available.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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