Levar Stoney 
Mismanaged Richmond City Finances

BLAMED IT ON COVID-19
 

Levar Stoney was fiscally irresponsible as Mayor of Richmond. The City had operational losses under Stoney and City Council had to move funds from the rainy day fund to the operational general fund to cover the losses due to overspending. Stoney and City Council pulled $9 million dollars out of the rainy day fund one year to create a surplus. Since they pulled it out of the rainy day fund which is saved funds from prior years, it is not truly a surplus for the current year. But Levar Stoney and Lincoln Saunders reported it as a surplus for that year. Council approved it.  This was discussed at City Council and reported by Richmond Times Dispatch that City Council approved the withdrawal of the money which covers the losses. But it is not a surplus. Stoney and City Council also claim that they had to withdraw $9 million from the rainy day fund due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Yet the City of Richmond has $5 million in COVID-19 funds un-accounted for in a recent audit.

Richmond Times Dispatch reported it through reporter  Chris Suarez on February 22, 2021.

d4517543-852c-423c-aee2-20a60a5f963a

af31d6fc-6de6-4ae0-b3a7-88dd54e8131d

FALSIFYING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS

The Mayor had the finance department leadership put extra cash and revenue on the books to create a surplus of $7 million and to cover losses of over $7 million. A total of $14.9 million was placed on the books to hide operational losses. The inspector general claims they did not reconcile the cash account. Sheila White, the Controller and the assistant controller reconciled the account and approved the continued inclusion of $14.9 million in false cash and revenue. The Inspector General appears to have softened the wording of things in his reports but the cash account was falsified. 

Levar Stoney had false information throughout the annual reports for the City of Richmond during his term. From cash, to revenue, liabilities, expenses, fund balances and surpluses were all falsified. 

When finance supervisors and managers discovered falsifications, they were given the boot.  One supervisor discovered Stoney and his directors and deputy directors were padding citizen's personal property bills. She was given the boot by being placed on administrative leave for finding out about the robbery of citizens. She was left on administrative leave indefinitely. A manager discovered the falsification of cash accounts and reported it to Stoney first. She was given the boot as well by being placed on administrative leave for no real reason. They left her on administrative leave indefinitely forcing her to resign. Stoney and his leadership then proceeded with publishing and distributing the financial statements with false information and all. They submitted the statements to the rating agencies in New York and got their bond rating increased and then went to financial institutions for better rates on general obligation bonds and lines of credit.  This is a crime. It is the same thing that Donald Trump did that he was prosecuted for and is now a convicted felon.  Levar Stoney should be prosecuted as well.

Other leaders of Richmond are helping Stoney to hide his own falsification of the financial statements.  It was reported to many of the democrats including Michael Jones who is now in the General Assembly and Ellen Robertson who is on City Council, and the inspector General for the City of Richmond.

In this link below, Stoney was notified of the falsification of Financial statements but did nothing

12fc9758-95f4-4861-aac2-51f25f1377f2

In thiis linked jreport below, the inspector general notified Stoney and CIty C ouncil of problems with reconciling cash accounts. THese problems meant the financial statements were not accurate from 2017 to 2021

abcf6bba-5a1c-4289-bca9-eb64608c6e1d

THE BIG PAYDAY

Levar Stoney gave $100,000 dollar pay increases to directors and deputy directors and operations managers who were already making in excess of $125,000 to $200,000. Stoney appointed Chief Administrative Officer, Lincoln Saunders who gave himself such an increase in wages. Some managers in certain departments saw increases in wages during his second term from $77,000 a year to $117,000 year. But City Council only approved employee increases of between 3-5%. We believe that Stoney was buying votes and rewarding employees who helped him do his dirty work of falsification, lying, misrepresentation and defrauding citizens.

FEDERAL COVID-19 FUNDS MISSING

Over $5million in Federal COVID-19 relief money is unaccounted for and no one has reported that they are looking for it. We wondered why and started researching. We haven't found much so far. But we did find this:

https://celebrity-birthdays.com/people/levar-stoney

https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/thousands-unaccounted-for-richmond-cares-act-money-july-20-2022

d4517543-852c-423c-aee2-20a60a5f963a

We wonder if the $5 million net worth is related to the missing COVID-19 funds. We think the federal government should investigate. 

ROBBING TAXPAYERS

The City did not notify taxpayers of credits on their accounts that needed to be refunded to the taxpayers. Instead, Stoney and his leadership team allowed the funds to go into the coffers of the City government as City revenue instead of refunds to taxpayers. This was reported by WTVR 6's Tyler Layne in October 8, 2024 but the City leadership was made aware of the issue/concern two years earlier.

https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/richmond-tax-refund-concerns-oct-8-2024

CORRUPTION, CORRUPTION AND MORE CORRUPTION

Stoney allowed employees to engage in business dealings with their friends and former business partners with no consequence. In my opinion, this is a case of nepotism and misuse of funds. The Inspector General reported that the employee did nothing wrong. If that were the case, then why did the employee resign amid the investigations. That is part of the problem with the City of Richmond. The leadership allows employees to resign after getting caught in fraud. Case in point is the registrar or former registrar. He fraudulently misused $500,000 on the City of Richmond's P-card. Balmer's  waste, abuse and stealing was not prosecuted and no one has asked for him to be prosecuted in City Hall. Stoney's fraud runs rampant through City Hall. 12fc9758-95f4-4861-aac2-51f25f1377f2