diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 55ee4c787c6..6f57d6a5782 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ Other Changes
 
 * SOLR-7599: Remove cruft from SolrCloud tests. (shalin)
 
+* SOLR-7610: Fix VelocityResponseWriter's $resource.locale to accurately report locale in use.
+  (ehatcher)
+
 ==================  5.2.0 ==================
 
 Consult the LUCENE_CHANGES.txt file for additional, low level, changes in this release
diff --git a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
index 68283747a45..05456e4bcf6 100644
--- a/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
+++ b/solr/contrib/velocity/src/java/org/apache/solr/response/VelocityResponseWriter.java
@@ -326,19 +326,18 @@ public class VelocityResponseWriter implements QueryResponseWriter, SolrCoreAwar
   // see: http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/velocity/tools/branches/2.0.x/src/main/java/org/apache/velocity/tools/generic/ResourceTool.java
   private class SolrVelocityResourceTool extends ResourceTool {
 
-    private final Locale locale;
     private ClassLoader solrClassLoader;
 
     public SolrVelocityResourceTool(ClassLoader cl, String localeString) {
       this.solrClassLoader = cl;
       Locale l = toLocale(localeString);
-      this.locale = (l == null ? Locale.ROOT : l);
+      this.setLocale(l == null ? Locale.ROOT : l);
     }
 
     @Override
     protected ResourceBundle getBundle(String baseName, Object loc) {
       // resource bundles for this tool must be in velocity "package"
-      return ResourceBundle.getBundle("velocity." + baseName, locale, solrClassLoader);
+      return ResourceBundle.getBundle("velocity." + baseName, getLocale(), solrClassLoader);
     }
 
     // Why did Velocity Tools make this private?  Copied from ResourceTools.java