Major salary increases for police officers and firefighters, along with a 5 percent increase for other city employees and a city minimum wage of $17 an hour.

A one-time boost in subsidy for the Richmond Ambulance Authority to maintain robust service.

A jump in investment in public schools.

Restoration of staff to care for Richmond’s trees and the expansion of hours at the city’s public libraries.

And initial funding of City Hall expenses should employees be allowed to unionize, along with a small cost-of-living bonus for retirees.

Those are a few of the highlighted items included in the new budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year that City Council is poised to approve and that will go into effect July 1.

The council wrapped up its work on the budget Tuesday after nearly two months of review.

The result: Only a few changes to the general fund proposal Mayor Levar M. Stoney presented in early March, and adoption without any changes of his plan for spending on sidewalks, streets, parks and other infrastructure needs.

Final approval is anticipated before May 15.

Overall, Richmond’s budget will top $2 billion – spending nearly $9,600 for each of the estimated 230,000 men, women and children in the city—when utilities, grants, infrastructure spending and other internal funds are included.

Council focused solely on the general fund and capital budgets.

The finished product allows the city to spend a record $838.72 million — or nearly $3,650 per person — in general fund dollars. The new budget represents a $64 million jump from the $772.8 million that the council approved in May 2021 for the current 2021-22 fiscal year.

Council’s spending figure represents a $2.7 million increase from the mayor’s proposed $836.1 million spending plan. The council gained the extra money after the administration, working with the city assessor, certified an increase in projected revenue from real estate taxes.

One big loser in the budget-making process is GRTC. Councilman Andreas D. Addison, 1st District, had proposed adding $1 million to the budget to match a state grant and ensure that free fares continued.

The mayor’s administration pushed back and secured council backing for its position.

Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer who now serves on GRTC’s board, noted that GRTC has sufficient funds to cover the $1 million, though that may not be the case in future years.

He said $28 million in new revenue from the Central Virginia Transit Authority has flowed to GRTC, with only $21 million set to be used. GRTC also has unspent American Rescue Plan dollars that could be available, he said.

Mr. Saunders acknowledged that the amount of matching money is set to increase in the next budget cycles, and he said the city would work with Henrico and Chesterfield officials on finding the money to keep fares free through 2025 and perhaps after that.

The boost in pay for first responders was a council priority after reports showed Richmond was paying far less for emergency services than surrounding departments. The council embraced the mayor’s plan to invest $17.4 million in pay improvements for police and firefighters and to increase pay for other employees by 5 percent, the biggest raise in years.

The mayor’s administration also found a creative patch to meet the council’s demand to boost the subsidy for ambulance service, using the city’s borrowing power.

The mayor had proposed maintaining the city subsidy at $4 million, which the Richmond Ambulance Authority publicly said would force service cutbacks. That raised an alarm.

In response to council pressure, Mr. Saunders worked with the finance and budget staffs to come up with a temporary, one-time fix to boost that amount to about $7.5 million in the coming fiscal year.

The proposal that the council endorsed calls for the city to borrow and pay for 14 new ambulances at a cost of about $3.5 million, allowing the authority to free up money it planned to spend on those ambulances to use in operations. The fix, though, only solves the problem in the 2022-23 fiscal year, and would not be repeated, leaving the issue to be dealt with again during the next budget cycle.

The council also went along with Mayor Stoney’s proposal to provide an additional $15 million for public education, boosting the total city contribution for school operations above $200 million for the first time. It also ensures a 5 percent pay increase for teachers and other staff.

Council also provided funding to provide for selected increases in staff, including funding to enable the city to hire a second employee in homeless services and the hiring of an urban forestry specialist and an arborist.

In addition, the council earmarked more money for public libraries. The mayor’s budget already had included an increase that City Librarian Scott Firestine said would allow branch libraries to restore evening hours. Libraries now close at 6 p.m., but would begin to stay open until 8 p.m., he said.

The increase that the council included would allow some libraries, notably the Ginter Park and Broad Rock branches, to have Sunday hours, with the potential for additional libraries to open.

On the collective bargaining front, the council filled in a missing piece in the mayor’s budget. Initially, the council proposed $750,000 to provide staff for collective bargaining, but reduced that to $330,000 for initial expenses.

Mr. Saunders projected the lower amount would be sufficient during the coming budget year, given the multiple steps needed, including a vote by employees for an organization to represent them.

The council also included more than $600,000 to provide a one-time bonus to retirees. Initially, Council President Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District, had sought $6.2 million to provide a 1 percent cost of living increase, but the cost was too great. In the end, she accepted Mr. Saunders’ suggestion to make it a bonus of up to $300.

Mr. Saunders also advised the council that the administration is exploring various options for the city’s pension program, apparently the last program that is not linked to the Virginia Retirement System.

VRS’ program includes funding to provide annual cost of living increases for retirees, which Richmond’s program does not. Mr. Saunders said that by early fall, the administration could be ready to make a presentation to the council on potential changes and costs.

In other changes, the council provided $200,000 to enable Venture Richmond to expand to the Manchester area the Clean and Safe program that now serves Downtown, along with beefed up support for nonprofits beyond what the mayor recommended.

Among the beneficiaries are the Neighborhood Resource Center in Fulton, Girls For A Change’s Camp Diva program, the Storefront for Community Design, the Metropolitan Business League and the Literacy Lab.

The council also rejected a proposal to strip the $200,000 Mayor Stoney recommended for the Help Me Help You Foundation, which former City Council President Michelle Mosby operates to provide housing, education and other services for people returning to the community from jails and prisons.