Last July, Richmond City Council gave Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration the green light to overhaul 35-year-old Kanawha Plaza, the three-acre park that sits across from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

The council acted after being assured that virtually all of the $6 million cost would come from gifts from big corporations and law firms located near the park.

But those assurances have turned out to be wrong.

In a memo dated Dec. 16, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, the city’s chief administrative officer, notified City Council that only tax dollars would be used. The Free Press obtained a copy of the memo last week.

Ms. Cuffee-Glenn noted that the mayor had approved shifting $1 million from a completed project — the preschool adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School — to fully fund the $2.66 million that would be spent on Kanawha Plaza. The remaining $1.66 million would come from previously appropriated funds, she stated.

While she did not explicitly mention that fundraising for the park has been unsuccessful, she provided no assurances to the council that additional money would be available — indicating the finished project would be far less elaborate than envisioned.

As best as can be determined, the Enrichmond Foundation, the city’s charity arm, never received or raised any of the money that Debra D. Gardner, deputy chief administrative officer for human services, months earlier told the council would be available.

Foundation officials did not respond this week to a request for comment.

During the August groundbreaking for the park’s improvement, Ms. Gardner 
declared that “we can now fix a park that is very much in disrepair” based on the flood of expected contributions that have not materialized.

Separately, Ms. Cuffee-Glenn wrote that the mayor also has approved shifting another $661,328 left over from the King preschool to support plans to overhaul Monroe Park.

This is another project that was supposed to be heavily fueled with private donations raised by a private group, the Monroe Park Advisory Council. The group is to oversee the park after the work is completed. The effort has been controversial because it could force the homeless and their support groups to relocate.

The city already has chipped in $3 million, which is supposed to be matched by the advisory group, which is still believed to be more than $1 million short.

The mayor’s decision to boost the taxpayer contribution appears to raise the prospects for the project being accomplished.

The city charter grants the mayor and the CAO authority to shift funding from one capital project to another without consulting City Council as long as the changes do not increase the project budgets.