Not happening.

City Council has declined to consider putting an advisory referendum on the November ballot that would allow city voters to decide if tax revenues from a casino should go to modernizing Richmond’s school buildings.

The referendum would have allowed voters to say if they wanted a charter change that would direct tax dollars derived from a casino, in the event one were ever built, to be used solely to renovate or replace more than 30 obsolete schools.

The council dropped the idea, members said, after City Attorney Haskell C. Brown III advised that the proposed charter change did not pass muster as it would seek to direct casino tax dollars that do not exist.

Mr. Brown declined to comment on the advice he provided to the council in response to a Free Press query.

The council is still mulling other policy resolutions that the nine members would vote on, but none would be sent to the voters. The mayor is backing a proposal to use casino dollars to cut property taxes by two cents.

Political strategist Paul Goldman in June had promoted the idea of allowing voters to choose whether to use casino dollars for school buildings, and worked with at least two council members, 4th District Councilwoman Kristen Nye and 8th District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, on crafting the language.

Last week, the proposal appeared to gain momentum after winning the endorsement of the Richmond Crusade for Voters and Cathy Hughes, founder and board chairwoman of the Black media company Urban One.

Urban One was City Hall’s choice to develop a casino-resort in South Side in 2021, but the project died when Richmond voters narrowly turned it down. Voters in majority Black districts tended to support the casino, while voters in majority-white districts tended to oppose it.

Richmond voters will have a second chance in November to decide whether they support the Urban One casino.

At this point, the state Department of Elections has stated that it has no plans to challenge a Richmond Circuit Court order putting the issue on the ballot.

However, even if the casino wins this second round, the General Assembly has barred the casino-regulating State Lottery from considering for a year any Richmond application for a license to operate a casino.

Petersburg now appears to have the inside track to win General Assembly support to replace Richmond as the state’s fifth casino site.

The enforced delay is designed to give the legislature time to fully consider substituting the Cockade City for the Capital of the Commonwealth.