Richmond business owners push for quicker meals tax issues resolutions

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT)—One business reported some good news concerning its meals tax issues on Monday’s Richmond City Council meeting.

“I’m thankful to be able to say today that our resolution has reached the agreement stage,” Matthew Mullett, the manager at Richbrau Brewery, says.

His business has been dealing with issues for four years. However, things began to change for his Brewery when he sat down with city officials in January.

“The facilitator was Councilwoman Newbille,” Mullet said. “She really drove this process forward to resolution we are really thankful for her help in that manner.”

He says a city review shows Richbrau is just one of 673 accounts that need Richmond’s attention. Within his restaurant association group alone, only 3 out of 15 businesses have resolved their issues since the January sit-down.

“So the remaining accounts are really concerned because if you take the total number of accounts that still need to be resolved as far as we know, that will equal 167 years,” Mullet said.

A recent city review shows that the city looked at delinquent accounts, and now interests and penalty fees are on hold at least until July 1.

Mullet, who spoke on behalf of several businesses at the city council meeting, said more needs to be done to give businesses peace of mind.

“The sooner we act to get people who are owed relief, the better. It’s going to be for everybody, including the city because those people will still remain active taxpayers,” Mullet said.

Mullet says businesses want the city to prioritize accounts owed refunds and/or credits, and they want the administration to publish the total number of resolved accounts per week.

“At least if we are tracking and measuring our progress, we get a chance to have some real feedback about what we need to do and if the process is going to work before this administration leaves,” Mullet said.

Mullet also says businesses would like the audit of the meals tax program to happen sooner rather than waiting until after RVAPay is implemented.

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