This year's mid-year report on Middleburg's financial status "leaves the town in much better shape . . . than was the case at this time last year," Town Administrator Martha Mason Semmes told Council at its regular monthly meeting on February 10. "No major adjustments to the current budget are required."

New construction on the Salamander Inn and Spa accounted for almost a $10 million increase in the value of the Town's taxable real estate, more than making up for a decline in the assessed value of single-family homes and personal property tax receipts.

Comparatively good weather has also helped. Semmes and the Council offered high praise for the street-and-sidewalk-clearing work done by Marvin Simms and Wines Construction during the January 26-27 snowstorm. That storm marked the first, and only time this year that supplemental staff and equipment had to be mobilized. As a result, some $2,000 remains in the town's snow-removal budget.