LYNCHBURG, Va. – There’s new back-and-forth between Lynchburg City Councilman Marty Misjuns and City Manager Wynter Benda, and it’s all documented in a series of letters between the two.
Misjuns is leveling new allegations that the city manager’s office isn’t being transparent in the handling of finances.
“It’s not clear to our citizens,” Misjuns said.
The exchange began on February 24 with a letter from City Manager Wynter Benda to the council, responding to concerns about his administration and the city’s budget process.
Benda’s letter says, “Taken together, his allegations suggest that I have failed to exercise proper stewardship of taxpayer resources. I fundamentally reject these allegations.”
At the center of the dispute - salary increases for senior staff in the city manager’s office
Misjuns argues those pay increases were not clearly explained and contributed to a sharp rise in personnel costs.
“The 17.4% increase in the city manager’s office, which was largely salaries, office during the fy2026 budget process, we were never given a straight answer,” Misjuns said.
Benda addressing those increases in his letter, saying in part, “The impact of these personnel actions was included in my fy 2026 proposed operating budget. On June 30th, 2025, city council adopted the operating budget with no changes to the personnel budget in the city manager’s office.”
“When you read their letter addressing the allegations, addressing the concerns that were brought up, were you satisfied with any of those responses?” 10 News Anchor Abbie Coleman asked Misjuns.
“One of the things that really caught my eye with the responses, was that was the first time it was actually admitted that those salary increases occurred. That created more concern for me,” he said.
That’s why Misjuns drafted a letter in response to Benda’s.
“Why aren’t we getting these answers?” Misjuns said.
A city representative tells 10 News that Benda’s February 24 letter was intended to fully address the concerns - and the administration does not plan to respond further.
Now, Misjuns is calling for an independent review of Benda and the administration’s financial practices.
“We’d have to get the majority of city council behind doing a forensic audit, looking into these questions about the city finances, was policy violated,” Misjuns said.
Towards the end of his letter, Benda said, “Simply put, Mr. Misjuns’ allegations are unfounded and continue a pattern of false and/or misleading statements regarding city financial documents, municipal operations, and/or city staff/me.”
Not all of council agrees with Misjuns.
We spoke with Councilwoman Stephanie Reed, who told us she believes the claims against Benda are unfounded.
She went on to say that Misjuns will not have the full support of council for an audit.
You can read the letter from City Manager Wynter Benda here:
You can read Misjun’s response in full here: