The Board of Supervisors’ examination of the county’s proposed fiscal year 2025-26 budget continued Wednesday as supervisors reviewed spending proposals of county agencies, including the Sports & Entertainment and the Economic Development authorities, Henrico County Public Library and the Police and Fire divisions.
- The Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority noted that the sports tourism program it spearheads is providing a significant boost for the local economy and for the county’s bottom line. Last year, sports tourism events – defined as amateur events hosted by the county with athletes traveling at least 50 miles – generated an economic impact of $99.8 million, with visitor spending reaching $1.9 billion, according to Virginia Tourism Corp.
- Crowning the county’s portfolio of top-caliber venues is the Henrico Sports & Events Center, which marked its first full year of operations in 2024. The center was booked 46 of 52 weekends last year, with events ranging from the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship and the National Wheelchair Basketball Association championships to youth volleyball and basketball tournaments.
- Events already on the calendar for the Sports & Entertainment Authority include a Pro Puma Basketball showcase tournament for elite youth players, the 2026 A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship, the 2027 NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship and the PBR/ Prep Baseball Report tournament.
- The authority continues to support local youth sports and work with private and nonprofit partners, such as NOVA of Virginia Aquatics and Richmond Strikers. The county will continue to fund sports tourism grants to enhance the impact of youth-sports organizations across the community.
- Since 1990, the Henrico Economic Development Authority has brought 494 projects into the county, creating more than 44,000 jobs and representing a capital investment of more than $16 billion. Significant projects over the years include Innsbrook office park, White Oak Technology Park and Short Pump Town Center.
- The authority’s toolkit of incentives for attracting projects includes fast-track permitting, enterprise and technology zones, form-based code and commercial rehabilitation tax credits, though Executive Director Anthony Romanello noted that Henrico itself is the principal incentive the EDA uses to attract business prospects.
- The strength of Henrico’s economy comes from its variety, with about 80% of jobs spread among 10 diverse industries. Key sectors include health care and social assistance; retail trade; professional, scientific and technical services; finance and insurance; educational services; and construction.
- Upcoming initiatives, aimed at growing Henrico’s economy for everyone, include a Global Business Gateway, the Henrico Tomorrow strategic plan for existing office space, a business incubator and accelerator for local startups, Small Business Boost and Catalyst Business Academy. Details are available from EDA.
- The county’s newest department, Outreach & Engagement, launched in July 2024 with a mission of helping all county residents connect with resources and opportunities to help them thrive. The department has focused its efforts on supporting older residents and connecting them with services, supporting multicultural communities and helping them connect with county programs and services, strengthening the community by mobilizing volunteers, and engaging young people.
- Highlights of the department’s first nine months include responding to requests from more than 2,300 older residents, holding the county’s first Centenarian Celebration and delivering more than 10,000 Valentine’s Day cards – created by community members – to older residents of care facilities; helping to coordinate and staff the 2025 RVA Teen Summit; and organizing the 2025 My Henrico Academy for the county’s multicultural community.
- More than 182,000 Henrico voters cast a ballot in the 2024 general election. The county’s General Registrar/Voter Registration & Elections Office trained more than 1,600 election officers to operate 91 polling sites on Election Day. Staff also managed a 45-day early, in-person voting period and collected absentee ballots daily from five drop boxes across the county.
- Of the 182,139 votes cast by Henrico voters in the 2024 general election, 95,012 were cast on Election Day, about 65,236 were cast in the early voting period and 22,484 were cast by mail. Henrico voters returned 6,208 votes to the five drop boxes.
- Henrico’s office of Virginia Cooperative Extension served close to 115,000 residents last year, providing nearly 200 programs on topics encompassed by its service areas of family and consumer sciences, agriculture and natural resources and 4-H youth development.
- Extension partners with Henrico County Public Schools to provide financial awareness training for students countywide and supports activities at The Oak Center at Highland Springs. In 2024, the office’s income tax return assistance program helped 128 county residents complete and submit their tax returns, free of charge, and helped residents obtain more than $155,000 in refunds.
- More than 1.4 million individuals visited the area, branch and mobile libraries of Henrico County Public Library in 2024. Henrico libraries circulated more than 3.6 million books, e-books, periodicals and other items last year and enrolled more than 20,000 new cardholders. Some 213,000 individuals used the meeting rooms available in county libraries last year.
- HCPL’s community programming includes the popular “story times” for young children; more than 55,000 people attended 2,140 story times in 2024. The library’s outreach efforts interacted with 12,500 people in 94 community events last year. The signature All Henrico Reads 2024 event enjoyed a record attendance of 2,000. All Henrico Reads 2025 is set for March 27.
- HCPL repurposed space to create a conference room with audio-visual teleconference capability and updated a meeting room with audio-visual services at North Park Branch Library. Five study rooms at Tuckahoe Area Library were refreshed with new paint and fixtures and updated technology.
- Library staff train continuously to address community needs. In 2024, some two dozen employees learned how to administer Narcan to potentially revive an individual suffering an opioid overdose; employees also received training to provide services for unhoused community members.
- The county’s general government departments had a combined vacancy rate of 12% in March among 4,800 positions, according to Human Resources. The rate was up from 9% the previous year but is generally stable. Among departments, the Sheriff’s Office had the highest vacancy rate at nearly 32%.
- Human Resources’ recruitment efforts, often conducted with departments, include job fairs and the promotion of the county’s competitive salaries and benefits, which include health insurance plans classified as platinum – the highest level of coverage. The Encore program has helped attract county retirees to fill positions in areas of critical need, such as deputies, firefighters and communications officers. Positions newly eligible for the program’s benefits include some with Public Utilities and the James River Juvenile Detention Center.
- Human Resources is working with the county manager’s office to develop a program to allow the county, like the school system, to offer bonuses under certain circumstances to fill positions of critical need.
- Henrico was named one of America’s Best-in-State employers by Forbes in 2024. The county also was named a top employer in Virginia for interns for a second year in a row by the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership.
- The county’s crime rate dropped by 7% in 2024 and returned to a low level most recently seen in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Police Division tracked an average of 21.73 major crimes per 1,000 residents and hopes to build on that success through investments in software and other technology. Examples include systems that can detect gunshots and alert officers within a minute, license-plate readers and drones that assist with search and rescues and offer support for large public gatherings, such as graduations and sporting events.
- Police is proposed for 815 positions, which includes 700 sworn positions. The division continues to encourage diversity among its ranks. As of March, 35% of the division’s staff met that standard, as did 46% of its recruits.
- The Sheriff’s Office reported the county’s jails are close to capacity, with 1,067 inmates between Jail East and Jail West. The total is down significantly from the 1,400-to-1,500 inmates held about seven years ago.
- The Sheriff’s Office is proposed for 402 positions, with currently 119 vacancies. The office continues to actively recruit candidates to serve as jailors and deputies, with three job fairs held this year. Sheriff Alisa Gregory noted the job of deputy can be extremely challenging because inmates often face mental health, substance-use, behavioral and other challenges. As a result, the office faces significant costs for prescriptions and medical care.
- In addition to its jail and other core functions, the Sheriff’s Office is active in the community. Through Project Lifesaver, the office serves more than 100 individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia and autism by offering check-ins and helping with battery changes and other needs.
- Emergency Management & Workplace Safety strives to prepare the community as well as county employees to manage severe weather and other crises. The department manages the Henrico Alert emergency notification system, which was used to locate a missing older resident last summer and during the water crisis of early January. Residents can register at no cost at henrico.gov/services/henrico-alert/.
- Emergency Management & Workplace Safety is installing automated external defibrillators at various county locations. So far, the effort has installed AEDs at 33 parks and recreation facilities, nine high schools and 12 middle schools. The department also oversees the county’s emergency operations center whenever it’s activated and is adding a mobile command unit later this year to support community-level responses.
- The Department of Emergency Communications saw significant improvement in its staff retention, which jumped from 35% in 2024 to 72% in 2025. It’s recruiting for a dispatcher academy that will begin in September. The new South Station for Police includes a 911 call center, which will be available for training.
- Emergency Communications continues to use technology to help dispatchers and first responders do their jobs and to support the public when calling 911. The department is working to allow residents to share photos or video from their mobile phones when calling 911.
- The Division of Fire responded to more than 57,000 calls for service in fiscal 2024 and is on track to exceed 60,000 fire and emergency medical services calls in fiscal 2025. The division’s staff is proposed at 690, with 13 new positions to support the EMS program of Firehouse 10 and staffing for Truck 301.
- Fire is putting a significant emphasis on training and staff development as more than 160 of its members have less than five years of experience. It’s also tracking the age of its fleet, as 40 of its 101 vehicles are more than 12 years old.
