A nonprofit committed to sharing the story of Henrico’s early days won’t get any money from the county in the next fiscal year.
Henricus Historical Park is missing about one-third of its annual operating budget after Henrico’s board of supervisors approved its fiscal year 2025 spending plan without any reservations for the waterfront attraction.
The decision came as a surprise to George Drumwright, chairman of the board of directors of the Henricus Foundation, which manages the historic 10-acre English fort and its 17th-century recreation and the village of Powhatan at 251 Henricus Park Road near Chester.
Drumwright said the group’s $1 million annual budget has been covered for years by a roughly threefold split between Henrico and Chesterfield’s investment allocations and the foundation’s own revenue.
Drumwright said in an interview last week that it will be difficult to reach the deficit, even with the foundation’s reserves.
“It puts us on the ropes, there’s no doubt about that,” Drumwright said. “It’s going to be felt tremendously, but there are things the base can do. “
Drumwright, a former deputy county director, worked at Henrico for decades until his retirement in 2012. He said Henrico has consistently provided money to the Henricus Foundation since its inception in the 1980s.
Henrico provided $356,000 as a component of the existing FY 2024 budget, and the county’s proposed budget for next year originally included the same amount for FY25. However, this line item was eliminated during the time that followed the budget in early April.
That’s because Henrico’s supervisors, juggling multiple budget priorities, didn’t have the budget to give to Henricus despite other pressures, Henrico’s board chairman Tyrone Nelson told BizSense.
Among those priorities, Nelson cited the higher costs Henrico incurred for a regional curbside recycling contract after Chesterfield retired from curbside pickup in 2023, among other budget priorities.
“We’ve had to make a greater monetary commitment to the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority in terms of how to manage recycling collection,” Nelson said. “Chesterfield made the decision to retire and that affected us monetarily. It’s to continue with this data. ” with CVWMA.
Other competing priorities included Henrico’s preference to fund a regional homeless shelter founded in Richmond, as well as plans for a 2,100-acre former plantation the county acquired in Varina earlier this year. Nelson said the county intends to use the assets as an educational facility.
“We’re going to tell our story at Varina Farms,” Nelson said, referring to the property, which served as the county seat from 1632 to 1752 and sits across the James River from Henricus.
The annual budget approval procedure at Henrico, as well as at other locations, consists of receiving and reviewing multiple investment requests from local non-profit organizations involved in paintings ranging from social facilities to cultural and sports programming. Nelson noted that the original FY25 budget proposal created through County Administrator John Vithoulkas a position for Henricus, but the council ultimately eliminated the investment.
“We’re approving the budget, but we’re also making adjustments to the budget and this of the adjustments. The budget proposed through the county administrator included Henricus. The oversight board made the resolution (not to fund Henricus),” Nelson said, adding that the board could potentially decide to fund Henricus on a long-term budget.
Drumwright said he reported on the county’s resolution not to give Henricus cash in an April 16 letter from Vithoulkas.
In the letter, which he shared with BizSense, Vithoulkas wrote that no investment would be reserved for Henricus due to the impending expiration of an operating agreement for the site between the nonprofit Henrico and Chesterfield, as well as what the letter describes as an unpredictable future. .
“As you know, the park’s operating agreement is set to expire on September 1, 2024, and it’s unclear exactly what the park will hold for it in the long run. Coinciding with the expiration of the agreement, Henrico County’s approved annual monetary plan for fiscal year 2024-year 2025 does not include investments for the operation of the park in the new fiscal year,” the letter states.
“I sincerely thank you for all that the Foundation has done to inform residents, visitors and schoolchildren about the history of the area. “
The letter mentions other reasons for the county’s investment decision.
Drumwright said he didn’t know what was “unclear” about the historic site’s future. He said that prior to this letter, he had won a letter of resignation from Henrico’s representative on Henrico’s board of directors the previous April.
The agreement to operate the site had been in place in one form or another for more than 20 years, according to Henricus CEO Charlie Grant. He said that until recently he was under the impression that the deal would be renewed with Henrico’s involvement.
Chesterfield County Administrator Joe Casey said the base informed him that Henrico has withdrawn investment for the nonprofit. He said Chesterfield continues on to the historic site.
“We are ongoing supporters and funders of Henricus,” Casey said. We are invested in the good fortune of the foundation. We have plenty of time to figure this out because they’ve been well controlled financially. “
In addition to offering cash directly to Henricus, Chesterfield also provides administrative services, such as payroll, for the historic site’s 16 workers, who are county employees. The site is a program of the Chesterfield Parks and Recreation Department.
Casey said municipal governments have to make tough decisions in the budget season when it comes to investment requests from local groups, and he didn’t get any complaints about Henrico’s decision.
“I’m here to give my opinion on what Henrico does or doesn’t do,” he said. “I respect what other communities have to go through to balance a budget. It’s a simple job.
Henricus is a living history museum depicting the town of Henricus, founded in 1611 and which was the time of a successful English settlement in Virginia after the town of James.
The foundation reported $1. 1 million in expenses and about $888,500 in revenue on its FY22 tax return, which was the last tax return available in a nonprofit database maintained through the news outlet ProPublica.
Although Henricus has no goal of shutting down its operations in light of Henrico’s decision not to fund the organization, it remains to be seen how it will make up for the shortfall. In addition to general admissions and event scheduling, the school’s welcome visits groups.
Grant, Henrico’s executive director, said the nonprofit needs to build an indoor museum to expand its offerings, but Henrico’s decision to withdraw investment complicates its plans.
“We have tens of thousands of school-age children, and that will have an effect on how we serve them and how we serve the public. There’s no way around it,” Grant said.
Jack joined BizSense in 2020, spanning startups, retail, healthcare, public companies, and nonprofits. In the past he has reported for the Virginia Gazette and Tidewater Review. He is a graduate of Christopher Newport University. Contact him at [email protected] or 804-554-6545.
Like the city, Henrico will erase history. . . . . . . .
It’s ironic that Michael Paul Williams had something to say about this on RTD a few days ago.
Wow, is it still there? He used to make other people laugh a lot in his column. . .
Michael Paul Williams is one of the reasons I no longer subscribe to RTD.
Yes. Let’s say it’s “chauvinistic”
Make
Big difference: they just don’t fund a museum.
They’re going to completely erase history after this generation.
It would be prudent for Henrico to henceforth remove the date 1611 from his flag and other old advertisements or documents. The Henricus Foundation deserves to impose without delay (if it does not already exist) a per-visitor payment for any school organization whose locality does not participate in the park. Also, as a lifelong Henrico resident, I will continue to do my best not to buy food from Henrico and avoid the meal tax to the best of my ability. Shame on Henrico for walking away from this regional corporation and this historic area. You can also. . . Read More »
I live a few miles from the old Chester Park. I don’t know if you’ve made a stop in the park, but if you enter the wooden-fenced domain where workers dress for the time and take a look at the buildings, you have to pay an initial fee. You can stop at the gift shop and walk the trails around the fenced domain for free.
Like (I asked) above; Thanks for the details about the down payment as I wasn’t sure. What I mean is that school systems share this burden when the schooling of their students and the Henricus Foundation do not bear the cost.
I went with my son’s elegance from a number one HCPS school. They would now have to charge an additional payment for HCPS checkout rides to them. Or simply forbid them to come.
Some of my ancestors were part of that 1611 network. Unfortunately, they had no determined demographic compatibility. This is deliberate.
Oh, the American flag will be abolished in 20 years.
The crowd waved another American flag on Jan. 6, shedding the red stripes. They did not fulfill their wish.
They replace the so-called “The Colony formerly known as Henricus. “
Simply take some of the cash set aside for the “Drop Line Trail” and put it toward the investment in the Henricus Historic Site. $1 million or ~$350,000 is a drop in the bucket of what is allocated for a motorcycle lane.
Given the competitive increases in asset taxes paid in recent years, it’s hard to believe Henrico can’t raise $350,000 to help the park. It’s a real shame.
Well, Jeff Henricus’ annual budget was over $96 million, they “had to” cut $300,000 from Henricus. Quite a mystery.
Interestingly, Tuckahoe Supervisor O’Bannon, who is retired, is one of the members of Henricus’ board of directors.
https://henricus. org/quiénes-somos/board-members/
I’m just going to drive 2 miles west to Goochland or five miles south to Chesterfield, as I already do to avoid Henrico’s meal tax. I’ve already planned more and more to do it. Not so much because of the tax itself (although it shouldn’t exist), but because of the way the profits are spent. Henrico’s local government is temporarily becoming a disgusting Leviathan.
Wait until you notice Richmond. . .
Yes, the story is interesting, but it’s not that important.
I liked the park – even conscientiously designed to give my daughter’s “Captain” chicken a traditional breed, in the park – I had been there many times – however, my impression was that visits were few and far between – no one had heard of it. the place, including natives of the Richmond and Williamsburg area.
Henrico’s BOS has been on a roll in recent years and is especially dissatisfied that Tyrone Nelson, as a resident of Henrico/Varina, is content to fund an old local park while sending taxpayer money from the City of Richmond to Henrico to build housing for the homeless. Why does Henrico fund projects located in the city?Also, don’t be fooled by the doublespeak related to Varina Farms’ 2,100-acre farms. Nelson has spoken several times about preserving it as a park, however, the acquisition agreement only preserves the farm. After that? A solar farm?A big development? Who knows. Henrico’s BOS and the county total. . . Read More »
If I think homeless shelters solve a problem, I’d be fine with Henrico’s taxpayer money to fund them, as long as they were built within the confines of Richmond.
And thank God for that!
It’s funny that they blame the recycling program. As a resident of western Henrico, I already subsidize trash pickup in the eastern component of the county, but I don’t get that service. Maybe they can locate others that you can subsidize in the east. to aid compensate for the budget deficit.
And I’m wondering which end of the county will pay the maximum taxes (both food and property)?I hear that the East wants more, that it’s the one that’s worse off, etc. , but the empirical evidence that helps those court cases turns out to be very lacking.
Indeed, it’s pathetic that Henrico has a $1. 2 billion budget and yet has to make a sign of merit by cutting $300,000 from a vital historic site that bears his call (and appears on the county seal) to be able to fund the homeless. shelters in some other locality. I guess it’s not a big deal given the board that just got elected. Good job, Henrico voters!
Although I’m racking up between 30 and 50 negative reviews, I’ll say it again: welcome to Virginia, New Jersey, home to the largest number of job seekers in the U. S. In the U. S. , thanks to Washington D. C. and Northern VA. Annuity applicants bring their policy, which is necessarily a middle finger, where they hide.
I think Maryland has more, so it’s even worse.
It was given to us in Eastern California. Unless more people wake up, we will no longer be free.
I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. In addition, the first European settlers were Spaniards ?
Is it clever monetary control, or has anyone discovered that Henricus’s tale makes the indigenous peoples of the Americas look like the indigenous peoples of the Americas?What were the indigenous peoples of Scandinavia 700 years ago – without boats, metal and other technologies?
They no longer hide their intentions. The newly acquired “plantation” will no doubt be limited to the aspect of slavery. The other story will be deleted as if it never existed. Such opportunities are squandered.
I guess what I’m saying is: for what purpose?Just to tell a story about something that happened a long time ago?It’s not vital to Henrico County’s history: It was a Jamestown outpost, a position that no longer exists. it exists because the other people eventually moved to Williamsburg, etc. , and Jamestown was abandoned. The other people who lived in Henricus were killed by the natives and did not settle in Henrico. Jamestown was only unearthed because it was the first English village. agreement in the New World and is practically the. . . Read More »
What would happen if we, the people, financed it ourselves?Could this be done?
I suppose I COULD, but these things show how much other people really need something, or how much it costs. History is largely political propaganda, and we are informed of this most productively when new narratives come to the fore and old narratives are abandoned. regularly through governments that decide to fund things that charities can’t fund. A LOT has been replaced in Richmond since I moved here. At the time, I think they put up a statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting with his son Tad in the Civil War Museum. It’s strange that I didn’t forget to see him in person, yet. . . Read More »
That’s the county’s bond score and its call. Henrico County owes its call to Henricus. Will the base allow your call to be used as compensation?
Many other people come forward because Henrico has given up on investing in a museum of his own in Chesterfield. This comment section is very weird at times.
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