RICHMOND, Va. – There was a testy work session for Richmond's City Council Thursday night as the police department and school system made their cases to add to Mayor Dwight Jones' proposed budget.
The most heated exchanges involved the mayor's security detail which grew to half a million dollars this year, up $100,000 from last year.
Council Member Reva Trammell told RPD Chief Alfred Durham the city's police response was not adequate when council members faced threats.
“So why don't you do a statistic on that instead of just Mr. Mayor, and not only that, you're not treating us fairly and you're not treating the taxpayers of this city fairly either, when you've already told us you needed 38 more police officers, but it's OK for Mr. Mayor to have somebody ride him around,” Trammell questioned. “Also I'd like to know did those police officers go out of town with him?”
Durham dismissed those claims.
“Ms. Trammell, I have to, have to, beg to differ, when you brought attention to me about someone who threatened you, we were on the phone, I sent officers, we were ready to arrest that person, and you didn't want to go forward with the charges, so come on," Durham said.
It appears a majority on the city council would cut the mayor’s security detail but the main budget issues for police and schools remain unresolved.
The council indicated it could find only $5 million of the $18 million the school system has requested.