Leesburg residents will have their opportunity to sound off on the proposed fiscal 2011 budget and tax rate during a public hearing March 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.

The proposed budget, which can be found at leesburgva.gov, is $91.6 million, more than $2.5 million less than the adopted fiscal 2010 budget.

The budget comprises the general fund, the utility fund, the airport fund, the capital project fund, combined debt service and the combined capital budget.

To help fund the budget, Leesburg Town Manager John Wells has proposed residents pay a tax rate of 19.5 cents for every $100 of the assessed value of their homes. This is the same tax rate as fiscal 2010. Since the average assessment is lower, tax bills for most residents will decrease.

At a daylong work session March 10, Mayor Kristen Umstattd and the town council met with the heads of each department to discuss their sections of the budget and find possible savings.

Council members expressed interest in looking at possibly increasing the fees for the use of Thomas Balch Library and whether to discontinue the town’s brush and leaf pickup, a service that is somewhat duplicated by CSI, the contractor that collects trash within the town.

Many council members also said they would like to see the county provide better funding for school resource officers within the town. With the opening of Tuscarora High School in the fall, Leesburg Police will provide the schools with six school resource officers.

The county provides partial funding for those officers now, but many town council members said they would like to see that funding increased.