Richmond’s new budget is set to go on July 1 after winning unanimous approval from City Council on Monday night.

While issues such as services for the homeless and the adequacy of staff at city recreation centers were left unaddressed, Council President Michael J. Jones and his eight colleagues expressed delight that they had speedily wrapped up their review and put the new budget in place without contention and in collaboration with Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration.

“We covered all of council’s priorities,” Dr. Jones, 9th Dis- trict, said outside the meeting, pointing to increased investments in neighborhoods, government employees, infrastructure and families and children.

Among the highlights, the new budget includes more than $20 million to provide city workers who are unionizing with hefty pay raises up to 8 percent and other incentives.

The spending package also includes a $21 million increase in the local contribution for the city’s public schools, boosting the total to a record $221 million, as well as funding to improve service and expand hours of operation of public libraries and increase after-school programming.

In addition, $7 million was appropriated to improve parks and recreation offerings and $21 million was provided to replace an aging fire station in South Side. Another $21 million is to be invested in improving streets and traffic safety and $215 million has been set aside to enable the school system to build a new George Wythe High School and rebuild William Fox Elementary School.

The budget also addressed another council priority – affordable housing. The approved budget supports Mayor Stoney’s request for authorization to borrow $10 million in the new budget and in each of the next four budgets to support development of more income-restricted housing for lower-income residents — despite the hefty interest cost that will accompany that action.

As approved, the total budget package runs about $3 billion, including debt service, grants, internal funds, public education, capital improvements, utilities and general fund spending.

Most of the council’s attention was on the record $951 million general fund, the city’s revenue from taxes, grants, fees and other income from which departments are funded and city programs paid for.

That general fund total works out to $4,135 for each of the city’s 230,000 men, women and children, a 13.5 percent increase over the current budget in which the general fund provided $3,643 per resident — or about $492 less.

Amendments from the council involved increased funding for those they employ plus improvements to their City Hall office spaces. Council members also provided $150,000 to support the substance abuse program in South Side, and $30,000 to support a Farmer’s Market operation in Shockoe Bottom.

Seventh District Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille dropped her request for $3.5 million to provide a 5 percent bonus to retired city workers after the administration pledged to provide the funding from unexpended dollars that would become available after the current fiscal 2022-23 fiscal year ends June 30.

Overall, the governing body barely touched the budget plan that Mayor Stoney presented in March, which was built on maintaining current tax rates, while increasing the cost of utility service, including water, sewerage, streetlights, gas and stormwater control, a collective 9 percent.

During the budget review meetings, two members, 3rd District Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert and 6th District Council- woman Ellen F. Robertson, sought to increase the number of recreation staff in their districts.

On the homeless front, the council approved only $1.75 million for services, far short of the more than $4 million spent in the current fiscal year that will end June 30.

Hours before the council meeting, advocates for homeless persons were joined by 5th District Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch to decry the city’s closing of winter shelters on April 15, leaving people in dire straits on the street.

Ms. Lynch spoke poignantly of seeing families camped out on a median, with one featuring a sign pleading for diapers and milk for children. “We have failed them,” she said in supporting demands for the city to reopen shelters that closed April 15

and to pay for supportive case work and to re-house those who have no place to live.

Surprisingly, though, Ms. Lynch never introduced a budget amendment to increase city spending on such services and never advocated for any budget changes that would allow for increased spending in that area.

According to city documents, City Hall spent more than $800,000 just in February to house more than 160 people a night in three winter shelters that were set up after private nonprofit shelters were full.