Richmond property owners will receive a 4.2 percent rebate on the real estate taxes they paid earlier this year, equal to $50 for each $100,000 of property value.

And City Hall will be able to pour in an additional $17 million to bolster homeless shelters, launch an emergency

fund to aid families facing a financial crisis, expand youth services, correct a glitch in first responder pay and meet other needs.

City Council at its final meeting of the year Monday approved the proposals Mayor Levar M. Stoney had earlier advanced at a total cost of $35 million.

The rebate checks that will total $18 million are to start going out in the first two months of 2023. That payment represents the equivalent of 5 cents of the real estate tax, which a majority of council voted to maintain at $1.20 per $100 of assessed value.

Council President Cynthia I. Newbille noted the rebate means taxpayers in 2022 paid a tax of $1.15 per $100 of assessed value.

The money for the rebate is being drawn from the pool of unexpended funds from fiscal year 2021-22 that ended June 30, according to Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer.

Though the city is behind in completing the annual comprehensive fiscal year audit for the first time in five years, Mr. Saunders told the council during its informal session that the rebate would take about half of the $36 million in surplus or unspent money that he expects to be reported when the audit is done. Most of the remaining $18 million is earmarked for savings.

Mr. Saunders’ estimate is significantly smaller than the $70 million surplus that the Free Press reported Nov. 17 based on information from two key members of the council. The two members, who provided the information on condition of anonymity, said the information had come from the administration.

Asked separately, the two members could not explain why Mr. Saunders’ estimate was so much smaller.

The extra spending that council also endorsed is coming from a separate pot—a windfall of real estate taxes the city projects collecting in 2023. The city now projects collecting an additional $21 million more in revenue from the tax on real estate than was included in the council-approved 2022-23 budget now in force.

The increase is based on the final as- sessed values that City Assessor Richie McKeithen reported when he completed

the most recent annual assessment of property in October, which were above the projections he provided when the budget was being created.

Mayor Levar M. Stoney plans to set aside about $4 million and spend the rest.

The plan includes providing $3.13 million to operate four homeless shelters at least through April, though only two in South Side are open, a 60-bed men’s shelter United Nations Church is operat- ing and a 40-bed shelter for women and women with children RVA Sister’s Keeper is operating.

An opening date has not been set for two shelters planned for North Side, the 60-bed space Commonwealth Catholic Charities would operate at 1900 Chamberlayne Ave. and a 30-bed space that Fifth Street Baptist Church in Highland Park.

Also, $1 million would go to the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care, the area’s umbrella homeless services organization, to help their partners provide case management, rapid rehousing and other services.

In addition, the Stoney administration plans to boost to $2 million the family emergency fund that HumanKind, the new name for Presbyterian Home and Family Services, would operate. The fund is designed to aid strapped families to avoid financial disaster and eviction with one-time help to fix a car, restore disconnected utilities and handle other emergencies.

NextUp would gain $500,000 to support and expand youth programming initiatives, while $400,000 would be awarded to the YMCA to bolster the Help 1 RVA resource directory — an online hub that connects users to service providers, employment, housing, child care and other services.

The proposal also earmarks $5 million to enable public safety agencies, police, fire and emergency communications, to cover compensation adjustments mostly for supervisors and executives who were short-changed in the pay raises the city provided those departments earlier this year.

Another $2 million would be used to cover an expected increase in health insurance costs for city employees; $1.1 million would go to the Department of Public Works to pay for additional traffic calming measures; and $1.8 million would go to the Department of Economic Development to pay contractual costs related to the City Center and Diamond District developments.

The plan also allocates $445,000 to provide pay incentives to city employees who speak other languages to serve as translators, and provides a $130,000 contribution to support Reynolds Community College.