City of Richmond retirees may soon get a cost of living raise for the first time in over a decade thanks to a $15.4 million budget surplus.

Mayor Levar Stoney announced the surplus at a press conference in City Hall on Wednesday. A report from the city’s Department of Finance shows the largest portion of the surplus, roughly $7 million, came from increasing property values. The city also collected about $6.5 million in delinquent property and car taxes.

Stoney also credited what he called “increased efficiencies” for creating the surplus.

“We were able to bring some enhancements to the operations, which means better use of taxpayer dollars that we haven’t seen in years past,” he said.

Two departments, the Office of Community Wealth Building and the Richmond Sheriff's Office, saw operating budget surplus’ that were attributed to new cost-saving measures.

Stoney said he wants to use $6.2 million of the surplus for a one percent cost of living adjustment for those on a city pension.

Glenwood Burley, a former Richmond Police Officer who retired in 1985, said retirees have been fighting for years to get a raise.

“The greatest ambassadors for the City of Richmond are the employees who have served this city and represented it well,” Burley said. “For a decade we have been in despair for a cost of living increase.”

Stoney also wants to restore nearly $1 million in funding to some capital improvement projects, including a new disabled access ramp at Huguenot Flatwater, new sidewalks approaching Brown’s Island and community center renovations.

Those projects were cut from the fiscal year 2019-2020 budget during tense negotiations earlier this year. To balance the budget without raising taxes, Richmond City Council had proposed to cut city department budgets. They eventually reached a compromise with the Stoney administration to cut capital projects.

Ultimately, city council will need to approve how the budget surplus is spent. Stoney said he will submit the associated ordinances at the next council meeting on Sept. 9.