Chesapeake, Virginia
| Chesapeake, Virginia | |
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| General information | |
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| Mayor: | Richard W. West |
| Mayor party: | Nonpartisan |
| Last mayoral election: | 2020 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2024 |
| Last city council election: | 2020 |
| Next city council election: | 2022 |
| City council seats: | 9 |
| City website | |
| Composition data | |
| Population: | 230,571 |
| Gender: | Female 51.2% |
| Race: | White 63.0% African American 30.0% Asian 3.3% American Indian and Alaska Native alone 0.5% Two or More 3.1% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino 5.0% |
| Median household income: | $70,244 |
| High school graduation rate: | 89.6% |
| College graduation rate: | 28.4% |
| Related Chesapeake offices | |
| Virginia Congressional Delegation Virginia State Legislature Virginia state executive offices | |
Chesapeake is a city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is considered a county equivalent. As of 2013, its population was 230,571.[1]
City government
- See also: Council-manager government
The city of Chesapeake utilizes a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[2]
City manager
The city manager is the city's chief executive. The responsibilities of the city manager include overseeing the city's day-to-day operations, planning and implementing the city's operating budget, carrying out council policies and hiring most senior-level city employees.[2]
Mayor
The mayor is a member of city council. He or she presides over council meetings and official city ceremonies. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national and international levels. Richard West is the current mayor of Chesapeake.[2]
City council
The Chesapeake City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for approving and adopting the city budget, levying taxes and making or amending city laws, policies and ordinances.[2]
Membership
The city council consists of nine members including the mayor. All are elected at large.[2]
A full list of city council members can be found here.
Advisory boards
A series of advisory boards and commissions that are made up of non-elected citizens, whom city council members have appointed and approved, advises the Chesapeake City Council. The roles of these boards and commissions are to review, debate, and comment upon city policies and legislation and to make recommendations to the city council.[3]
For a full list of Chesapeake's commissions, boards and committees, see here.
Mayoral partisanship
Chesapeake has a Republican mayor. As of November 2025, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2020
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia, held general elections for mayor and three city council positions on May 5, 2020. The filing deadline for this election was March 3, 2020.
2019
2018
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia, held elections for mayor and city council on May 1, 2018. In addition to the regularly scheduled elections for five at-large members of the city council, there was also a special election for mayor and another city council seat. The deadline for candidates to file to run in this election was March 6, 2018.
2017
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia, held elections for clerk of court, commissioner of revenue, commonwealth attorney, sheriff, and treasurer on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on June 13, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in the primary was March 30, 2017. The filing deadline for independent candidates was June 13, 2017.
2016
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia, held elections for mayor and city council on May 3, 2016. Three of the seven city council seats were up for election.[4]
2014
The city of Chesapeake, Virginia, held elections for city council on May 6, 2014. Five of the eight council seats were up for election. Elections are held every two years on the first Tuesday in May to fill expiring terms.[5][6][7]
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic data for Chesapeake, Virginia (2015) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake | Virginia | |
| Total population: | 230,601 | 8,367,587 |
| Land area (square miles): | 341 | 39,490 |
| Race and ethnicity[8] | ||
| White: | 62.3% | 69% |
| Black/African American: | 29.7% | 19.2% |
| Asian: | 3.3% | 6% |
| Native American: | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Two or more: | 3% | 3.2% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 5.1% | 8.6% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 91.1% | 88.3% |
| College graduation rate: | 29.6% | 36.3% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $68,620 | $65,015 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 9.7% | 13% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) | ||
Budget
The city's budget process operates by fiscal years running from July 1 to June 30 of the next year.[9] The city charter gives responsibility for drafting a budget to the city manager, who must submit a budget proposal to the city council for review and approval.[10]
2016-2017
The 2016-2017 budget for the city of Chesapeake was $975 million. Revenues for the city were estimated at just over $1 billion.[11]
Several significant changes from the prior fiscal year are outlined below:
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2015-2016
The 2015-2016 budget for the city of Chesapeake was $937.8 million. Revenues for the city were estimated at $947.2 million.[13]
Public safety and justice
The public safety and justice portion of the budget was allocated $143.5 million, which was $3.6 million more than the previous year. Items that received funding from this portion of the budget include:[13]
- $46.7 million for the police department
- $45.1 million for the fire department
- $43.4 million for the sheriff's office
Governance and management:
A total of $26.8 million was allotted to the governance and management portion of the budget, which totaled $1.1 million more than the previous year's budget . That included:[13]
- $18.3 million for elected and appointed officials
- $8.5 million for other city departments, such as budget, finance and human resources
Economic and environmental vitality:
The economic and environmental vitality portion of the budget received $72.6 million, which was $2.4 million more than the previous budget. Included in that was funding for the following:[13]
- $412,598 for agriculture
- $6.7 million for development and permits
- $1.7 million for economic development
- $2.1 million for planning
- $236,824 for planning commission
- $61.3 million for public works
2014-2015
Chesapeake's approved operating budget for fiscal year 2014-2015 was $923 million.[14]
Contact information
City Clerk
306 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, VA 23322
Phone: (757) 382-6151
See here to contact individual council members.
Ballot measures
As of September 2015, the city of Chesapeake did not have a local initiative process. For more information, see Laws governing ballot measures in Virginia and Laws governing local ballot measures in Virginia.
Lobbying
In 2013, Chesapeake's federal lobbying-related expenses amounted to approximately $138,000.[15] The issues for which the city filed in 2013, as well as the number of reports, can be seen in the box below. The issues column lists the generic issues that lobbyists working for local governments are required by law to disclose on quarterly federal disclosure forms.[16][17] The reports column gives the number of reports lobbyists filed in regards to each generic issue. To learn more about the details of the specific issues for which Chesapeake filed reports, read the federal disclosure forms by clicking the "Issues" links in the box below.
| Federal Lobbying Issues, 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Reports | Issues | ||
| 3 | Fed Budget & Appropriations | ||
| 1 | Transportation | ||
Issues in the city
Demonstrations, protests, and curfews following the death of George Floyd
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including Chesapeake, following the death of George Floyd.
Nondiscrimination laws
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described Chesapeake, Virginia, as a city or county that did not prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[18]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ U.S. Census, "State and County Quick Facts," accessed August 28, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 City of Chesapeake, "Plan of Government," accessed August 26, 2014
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Boards," accessed August 26, 2014
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Council and Mayoral Elections," accessed September 29, 2015.
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, Virginia, "Council and Mayoral Elections," accessed April 28, 2014
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Election Information," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Official candidate list," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Frequently Asked Questions for Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2015," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Memo to The Honorable Mayor Alan P. Krasnoff and Members of City Council from the City Manager's Office," March 24, 2015
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "FY 2016-17 Operating Budget," accessed June 19, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 City of Chesapeake, "FY 2015-16 Operating Budget," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ City of Chesapeake, "Operating Budget for Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2014," accessed August 28, 2014
- ↑ Open Secrets.org, "City of Chesapeake,VA," accessed August 28, 2014
- ↑ U.S. House of Representatives: Office of the Clerk, "Lobbying Disclosure Act Guidance," accessed November 11, 2014
- ↑ Open Secrets, "Methodology," accessed November 11, 2014
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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