The Loudoun Board of Supervisors on Dec. 11 backed off adding more business parcels to the Metro tax district in Ashburn around the forthcoming Route 772 station, keeping the districts as adopted Dec. 5.

Chairman Scott York (R-At Large) said after speaking the county’s chief financial officer Ben Mays he didn’t believe it was necessary to impose the tax on a number of Ashburn businesses, some of which had voiced opposition to the measure, saying the added surtax would hurt their bottom line.

Loudoun County is on the hook for 4.8 percent of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project’s estimated $5.5 billion price tag, or approximately $270 million. The board has initiated three tax districts around the Silver Line extension and the stations being developed, all drawn to exclude existing residential properties. The tax rate in the three Metro districts – one general district around the track and both stations, and two smaller districts, one placed immediately around each of the two Ashburn stations – is not to exceed 20 cent per $100 of assessed value.

On Dec. 5 the board passed the Metro tax districts, allowing the county to start collecting the revenue in January 2013. There was still some expectation, however, the board would amend the district Dec. 11.

-Trevor Baratko