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Richmond ended the last fiscal year with a projected budget surplus of $15.4 million, according to a new financial report.

The surplus is the result of higher-than-projected tax collections and lower-than-expected spending in City Hall during the fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2018, to June 30, according to the report Mayor Levar Stoney’s administration sent to the City Council. Stoney wants to direct nearly half of the surplus to cover the first cost-of-living increase for city retirees in 11 years.

“I’m pleased our revenues and collections are projected to exceeded previous estimates, and that the efficiencies and savings we were able to find throughout the administration will allow us to propose giving our retirees the cost of living increase they not only need but surely deserve,” Stoney said in a statement.

As of the end of March, several city departments were on track to end the fiscal year with deficits. Stoney’s administration recommended, and the council signed off on, midyear budget transfers totaling $8.5 million in May.

By moving money from departments that were running under budget to departments that were running over budget, the council rebalanced the budget and staved off potential shortfalls in several departments.