Councilman Peter Volosin this week candidly addressed the question that’s hung over Roanoke’s topsy-turvy budget process this year: How did the city get in such shape?

In a prepared statement Volosin read during a Monday meeting to approve a $404 million 2025-26 budget, he blamed the former administration of City Manager Bob Cowell for numerous issues from relying on money from vacant positions to cover funding gaps to postponing needed facility upgrades of up to $25 million. Those decisions, Volosin argued, kneecapped the city and necessitated a tax increase and cuts this coming fiscal year.

The City Council has learned of “past mismanagement of the budget process,” Volosin said, adding that “unfortunately, a lack of transparency by the previous administration led me to believe that we were doing well with no issues,” he said. “We now know that was not the case.”

When asked after the meeting if the Cowell administration purposely did not disclose information — or if the situation could have involved council members not providing adequate oversight — Volosin declined to comment on those particulars.

Cowell, hired by Roanoke City Council in 2017, resigned last year amid allegations of a toxic work environment that led to litigation. He declined comment Tuesday on Volosin’s assertions. Cowell has been a finalist for several city manager jobs in recent weeks in other states, according to other media reports.

Volosin, during his meeting remarks, specifically mentioned money not spent on the deferred maintenance and overtime - two needs the city will address with new revenue from raising the meals tax from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent as approved Monday. Restaurants that remit the monthly tax on time will receive a small rebate, officials decided. 

The meals tax has a two-year sunset provision approved on a 4-2 vote with Mayor Joe Cobb and Councilman Phazhon Nash opposed, saying such a move could limit the council in the future.

Councilwoman Vivian Sanchez-Jones was visiting Roanoke’s sister city in France for an event to mark the end of WWII 80 years ago, according to Cobb.

City Manager Valmarie Turner, who started in January, has said the meals tax increase, estimated to bring in about $4 million annually, will be used to borrow money for urgent repairs. She has also questioned the school's surplus funding. Turner declined to comment Tuesday about the Cowell administration and challenges she faced when she took the job.

The budget approved Monday also freezes local school funding at the current year’s amount of about $107 million so it can use funding for other expenditures. In doing that, the council amended an established funding formula between the city and the schools for the sixth time since its inception in 2011. That formula, changed last year as well, gives the schools 40 percent of the city’s budgeted revenue. 

A dizzying amount of numbers have been presented in recent weeks, and several stand out to show the city’s current predicament: There is a reported $4.3 million backlog in elevator maintenance. Also, the city budgeted $1.8 million for overtime in 2023-24 but spent $6.3 million, according to data provided by the city Tuesday. Numbers for the most recent year were not available.

In an interview with reporters shortly after Monday’s meeting, Cobb, the council member with the longest tenure at seven years, said there are different ways to define the term “mismanagement.” 

He said he doesn’t believe anything improper was done during the Cowell years - or since. But he said there have been issues, such as the city deciding to pay overtime from its annual surplus, versus budgeting a more accurate total from the start. He also agreed that the city has not had a “solid grasp” on deferred maintenance.

And on that topic, Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said during Monday’s meeting that, on any given day, a visitor to City Hall may find an elevator or a water fountain out of order.

“That’s embarrassing, I think, and I think that’s unacceptable,” he said.

The council, which includes a majority of four members who took office this year, continues to say it will forge a new path toward transparency and a tighter control of the fiscal process.

Councilwoman Evelyn Powers, the city’s former elected treasurer and once an employee of the municipal auditor’s office, said she believes the council needs to take a more thorough look at city finances on at least a quarterly basis.

The lone council Republican, Nick Hagen, was the only member to vote against the meals tax increase - and he also raised concerns about the council not lowering the real estate tax rate at a time when the annual reassessment is raising property values by an average of almost 8 percent, which results in an effective tax increase.

After the meeting, Hagen said the budget process has been “enlightening.” He said he’s disappointed he’s been the only vote against the tax increases. And he said the how-did-we-get-here question is legitimate.

“Here’s the thing - it’s council’s role to provide oversight to the employees we appoint,” he said, adding that “transparency always needs work.”

Trish White-Boyd, who left the council at the end of 2024 after a tenure of more than five years, commended the council and Turner, the city manager, for their work on the budget. White-Boyd said Tuesday it was time for the city to start rectifying years of issues - such as deferred maintenance - that accumulated because other priorities were funded instead.

For instance, White-Boyd said the school system has built a surplus that has allowed it to pay for numerous capital projects - such as its new administrative building across the street from city hall. White-Boyd said she understands how important it is to adequately fund the schools. However, she said the council is right to now potentially use some of that school surplus - once returned to the city - for other needs.

On the Cowell administration, White-Boyd said she will not assign blame.