The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on April 6 narrowly passed its fiscal year 2011 budget, including an increase in the tax rate and more than $73 million in expenditure cuts.
County leaders voted 5-4 to adopt the overall $1.4 billion budget, with Supervisors Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg) and Vice Chairman Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) opposed.
Supervisors voted 6-3 to set the tax rate at $1.30 per $100 of assessed value—a 5 cent increase over last year’s rate. Delgaudio, Waters and Buckley cast the dissenting votes.
County leaders were facing tough budget negotiations this year as they tried to close a $191.6 million deficit.
An influx of new residents—including thousands of new students—and declining real estate values caused the budget gap to soar, county leaders said.
Negotiations started with a tax rate of $1.40, which would have resulted in an average 10 percent increase in residents’ tax bills.
However, the board worked to reduce spending to bring the rate down, including a controversial $24.5 million cut to Loudoun County Public Schools’ budget.
Chairman Scott York (I-at large) said the board tried to balance the needs of the community with the need of the taxpayers.
“It is a very difficult situation and I’m not going to apologize at all for my vote and I understand how you feel. I hope that you will get through this and accomplish what is needed to be done. But you have to take up here everything that we do holistically,” York said. “The thing that has weighed on my mind is the burden that we’re placing—that growth keeps placing—on the taxpayer at a time when we are where we are.”
The chairman said after a series of budget workshop meetings where emotions among supervisors and School Board members ran high, he hoped county leaders could learn to negotiate more efficiently in the future.
“We can’t sit here and keep throwing mud pies back and forth,” he said. “The fact of the matter is we had a situation we had to overcome.”
Those who voted in favor of the budget said given the dire economic times, the board did its best to provide a reasonable balance between local services and keeping what the community could afford.
“We’ve made decisions this year that I would never have supported in other economic times,” said Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac).
In a last-ditch effort, McGimsey persuaded the board to increase funding to the county’s nonprofit organizations by $144,000, including $129,000 to the Health and Welfare Regional Organizations and $15,000 to Friends of Loudoun Mental Health.
Loudoun County’s nonprofit organizations had requested $1.3 million, but received $833,000 in total.
The county’s nonprofits were not the only groups whose cries for additional funding were heard. During workshop sessions, the board also voted to restore $1 million to the county’s library system and $415,000 to public safety.
The four supervisors who voted against the budget were split in their reasons for casting dissenting decisions.
Delgaudio and Waters said the proposed budget didn’t cut deep enough; Burk and Buckley believed the decrease in school funding went too far.
“I believe that our children will begin to feel the experience of these negative consequences next year, but it may take more time than that for us to actually see it,” Buckley said. “The irony that this community worked so hard to get state aid we deserved from Richmond only to acknowledge it with one hand and take the equivalent away with the other. With this reduction, the school budget will be less than it was for fiscal year 09 even though Loudoun County Public Schools will have grown by over 6,000 students and opened four new schools.”
Waters said the proposed budget didn’t fairly balance funding between all the county’s services, including the public schools.
“We as the Board of Supervisors have the responsibility of setting the entire budget as whole, looking holistically at the county and all types of amenities from schools and fire and rescue, sheriff’s department, human services and others,” she said. “Yet the School Board has the task of deciding how to spend that lump sum of money that we allocate. But they don’t have taxing authority and they’re not tasked with looking holistically at county, at all community needs.”
It’s the concept of Tea Party, not conservatives vs. liberals. Tea Party, or whatever you want to call it, stands for we’ve been taxed enough. Cut government and cut taxes
Tea Party? Are you serious? That’s just another group that want’s your money to keep their posh lifestyle alive and hidden bigotry agenda going. I can’t stand their rationale of using the constitution and the bible in the same sentence.
Definitely time for a Tea Party in Loudoun County!!!!!!
Lets get all the BOS and School Board out and get people in that understand it’s time to lower the tax rate not raise it.
How can we get Hatrick and the other overpaid admin. fired????
Earlier this week, Loudoun County protected its investment.
By increasing funding for services geared toward those in need, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors did the right thing. Without continued support in these fragile economic times, Loudoun County residents would experience even greater problems.
Other jurisdictions must mirror today’s results in Loudoun County. Local governments must think twice before they slice funding for critical services and programs. Those who need these services are often the hardest hit by a recession. Cutting funding for services supported by nonprofits is not a viable solution. The effects of cuts will cost governments more in the long run. We need to meet people’s needs today and make sure our economy is positioned for when prosperity returns.
Chuck Bean, Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington Glen O’Gilvie, Center for Nonprofit Advancement
I agree with RW’s comments on teacher payraises. It was but a few years ago when the teachers were supposed to get a payraise of 9.5%. However, this raise was reduced to 6% to fund junior varsity lacrosse and Mandarin Chinese. So teacher payraises are not that important to the School system. Further, I should note that the state employees have not gotten a raise or cost of living adjustment for several years and this year are required to take furlough days. So stop the whining and suck it up. You still have a job.
So the teachers haven’t gotten a raise in two years, so what? Neither has most of corporate America, that’s why it’s called a recession. I find it absolutely amazing that when times get tough every family, every small business and yes, even large corporations are forced to make tough decisions to simply survive yet government at all levels continues to spend out of control and all they do is go to their employer (the US citizen) and mandate themselves more money. I bet we all wish we could go to our employer and demand from them whatever salary we want to make this year. It’s time for the Government and all of its employees to suck it up exactly the same as they keep telling us we have to do.
Before you blame the taxpayers or the BOS that the teachers aren’t getting a raise, turn your blind eye to Ed Hatrick. He and his crony staff are the ones that decide where the pot of money is spent and they never give themselves a pay cut. Tell them to cut some of the fat down at the Taj Mahal and you will have enough for a pay raise or for extracurricular activities.
Concerning the unfair student parking fees, Hatrick often says that if the students can afford to drive to school, then they can afford to pay the $200 fee. Well, if Hatrick is making well over $200k a year, then he can afford to buy his own car and pay for his own gas, as well as a $200 parking fee!
Agree Jay, and what about Dr Hatrick taking a 20% cut, or cutting out that $11K allowance, and the school board could cut their part time salary too. Instead, they’d rather institute fees for athletes($300/sport), $200 parking and $86/AP test, yet, there is no fee/charge for needing an ESL teacher to teach a student English. Also, I missed where Dr Hatrick cut any of his bloated staff? Instead, he cuts the teachers and raises fees.
Do you realize this is the SECOND year your teachers haven’t received a raise? Not even a cost of living raise? How are they supposed to live? Do you want them driving from an hour away to teach your kids? Do you think if they are run out of Loudoun they will be the chaperones at the dances, sports events and on the field trips? Do you know they don’t get paid for this? When was the last time YOU volunteered in your kids school? It’s a community school and I think it’s time the parents rallied and put the community back in the school!
Do you realize ALL the cuts in the schools budget are from people IN the actual schools? There are NO cuts at the schools central office. Why are we ONLY cutting the people that are on the front lines with the kids? Isn’t that like trying to play football with our the QB? And how can anyone say by cutting people in the schools instruction won’t be affected?
Do the members of the Board of Supervisors still make over $40,000 a year for a part time job? I think so. There is a good place to start trimming the fat. In fact lets just vote the Board of No out of office and get some real civic minded leaders in charge.
What we need is a concerted effort by the Board and the Planning Commission to bring businesses to Loudoun, and not by offering sweet tax deals to them. Businesses represent a net tax gain—they require less than a dollar in services for each tax dollar they pay (unless, of course, they get one of those nice deals), while residences are tax losses, costing more than a dollar for each dollar they pay. But Loudoun seems particularly unfriendly to small businesses. I have a friend who tried to open a small “storefront” dance studio, trying several locations in eastern Loudoun, and gave up after two years of unending hassle from county officials. Meanwhile, several shopping centers in Sterling are more than half vacant.
We have the highest real estate tax rate in the South, maybe the highest on the east coast, and yet the services provided by Loudoun County are minimal when compared to other jurisdictions. And it isn’t hard to see where the problem lies.
When, with the highest tax rate, seven out of every ten tax dollars is spent on the schools and they are still constantly whining that they don’t have enough, something is seriously wrong with the picture. It is one thing to have a “Cadillac” school system. It is quite another to have a “chauffeured Rolls Royce” school system, which is apparently what we have, and what the school board thinks it’s entitled to maintain.
We owe the children of Loudoun a good, basic education. But the citizens of Loudoun who don’t have kids in school should not be stuck fighting over three dollars out of every ten the county collects, while the schools continue to take seven.
Continued tyranny of the people by those who lord over us.
It would be nice to change the tax laws so that instead of tax per property, why not tax on family size? When you know there are multiple families living/sharing one house, how does the county get their fair share of taxes? I feel the board could have done a better job. Cutting back some of the library hours wouldn’t have been noticed much. The few times I’ve been to the loudoun library, seems like a lot of kids running around without parents supervision(who probably off drinking coffee and chatting about their tough day).
And we are going to commit in excess of $9 million to upgrade Allder School Road to a road built better than Woodgrove, Snickersville, and most other county roads for an additional 120 trips to the new Purcillville high school. That is really cost effective in these times… Good job Mr. Burton…
csw: No one is complaining about children getting better educations. But I do believe that kids are not getting what they need if your not paying for the two to three children in a household. As far as social services,that’s where parents have failed their children.But we do live in a society where everybody thinks that the schools are responsibility for all this and more. Starts at home with the real educators, you and me.
Thanks to Supervisor McGimsey and those who supported her motion for a little extra for nonprofits helping Loudoun residents who are down on their luck. Maybe $1.00 got added to my tax bill. It might just be the tax dollar that I am happiest to pay.
My house is worth $198k less than it was worth in 2006. I am paying $500 more in taxes however. Seems about right to me!?!?!?! My commute is about 15 minutes longer now on average with all the new people here and lack of roads. The Greenway went up from $2.75 to $4.15 each way. We pay more taxes in Loudoun than the average New Yorker now. Wow, Loudoun really is a great place to live!
Please don’t forget that those “kids” I hear many complaining about are our future. If they don’t get proper schooling and become productive members of our society —you’ll be complaining about social services & unemployment next. Let’s help them to be better and smarter than we are. Maybe then the future BOS will impress all of us!
Okay so if I don’t use a service in Loudoun County I shouldn’t have to pay for it? Okay…I don’t want any of my tax dollars to go to: Children’s Services, Disability Services, Home Health Services,Homeless Shelter, Parks and Rec, Health Department, Family Planning, Senior Services, Youth Services, Community Health Services, Mental Health, Substance Abuse Services, Loudoun Agricultural Development, Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum, and so on and so on….
Of course I’m not being serious. I live (and pay taxes) for everything not just the things I use.
I agree with LLT, tax per head in the household. The more children, the more that household costs the tax payers. I also agree to do away with frills and concentrate on the basics. We should keep phys ed because most kids don’t get enough exercise as it is but fancy equipment etc. should go. I would also like to remind folks that this board is forced to raise taxes because of the unmitigated growth that was approved by the previous board. However, I am out of a job with a house that is underwater as are many folks and I would have preferred more cuts to the budget.
How can you increase taxes when the value of a home has plummented? Come on have you ever heard of dont count your money unless its in your hand? Stop already, your breaking the backs of hard working people!
Taxpayers should not be paying for nonprofits . I should be able to decide that myself not the BOS !
If parents want full funding for their children then we should start taxing per head per household. My neighbor and my property were asseded the same, I have one child she has three. Why should everyone else pay for the other two.
Yes we are the highest taxed county in the nation. That seems to be the breaking point.The board simply did not want to lose that title. Thanks alot.
Greg….whose is the “we” you are refering to? The people that don’t have kids? We were all a child of somebody at one time. We could just cut out all the fancy new high tech teaching tools and go back to blackboards and chalk, and do away with art, music, F.L.E., and phys. ed.. While they are at it, why not just cut school lunches too?
The BOS must go! They raise taxes every year!! We need to clean house next election.
I am so tired of parents whining we aren’t doing enough for THEIR children. Anytime there’s a funding up for a vote (and they all seem to be for schools or child-centric), all the parents vote for everyone else to pay for their kids.
Sorry, kids don’t need taxpayers footing the bill for classes in dance, they don’t need video-production, they don’t need but the basics (and they do pretty poorly at that looking at the papers displayed proudly on the wall when I’m in the local middle school to vote. If the parents wish their kids to have hobbies, they can pay for them. It’s amazing selfishness to demand everyone pay for their kids hobbies and spoiled demands. Sorry, they’re your responsibility, not ours. Pay for your own kids, we’re tired of it.
I will add “”“”“”“Urban Housing few kids, suburban housing many kids.”“”“”“”“”” This has a direct effect on our schools. We need projects approved to increase the commercial tax base and get critical road connections. Just wait and see how bad the intersection of waxpool and pacific will get when they open the extension of pacific from Nokes. That is why we need Kincora and if built with Urban housing like the extremely successful Villages of Leesburg. My saying says it all “”“”“"Urban housing few kids, and suburban housing many kids.”“”“”” hopefully our BOS will learn the difference. They certainly did know the difference when Miller led the charge for approved upping the density of the suburban housing of fairfieldwhich will be a kid magnet and what do we get in proffers a widen road to nowhere and two traffic choking lights.
This BOS has raised taxes ever since they were elected. This is the third year in a row. I am tired of hearing it is only a tax rate increase, well that amounts to higher taxes for many here. Next year election many of these BOS will not be re-elected. This shows what a horrible job this BOS has done to bring in NEW CLASS A BUSINESS.
Hooray for Loudoun’s nonprofits, the Health & Welfare Regional Organizations, and Friends of Loudoun Mental Health! The BOS has made this human service provider proud!
How does the money the schools collect in parking fees, athletic participation fees, and AP test fees fit into the budget? Last year all that money went back into the general fund.
The Board did an outstanding job maintaining the County’s position as being the most heavily taxed County in the South. Way to go Supervisors who voted for this budget and keep up the good work.
Excellent reporting, good work. Must have been a tough day for the board.
Updated: Thirteen-year-old pedestrian hit crossing Route 7 near Dulles Town Center
UPDATE: Missing Leesburg man drowns in drainage pond
Leesburg high schools switch things around
Loudoun inmate dies after suffering massive stroke in prison
Two Loudoun County residents involved in $1.5 million mortgage scheme
