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Middleburg Eccentric

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Middleburg Town Council Report

The Tax That Could Go to Zero

· By Jay Hubbard
Council's public hearing on the real estate tax rate, March 23, 2023. (Town of Middleburg meeting video)
Council's public hearing on the real estate tax rate, March 23, 2023. (Town of Middleburg meeting video)

Middleburg's Mayor told his Council in March that the Town could drop its real estate tax to nothing and still pay its bills. Council cut the rate anyway, just not as far as one member wanted. The month also brought a fast charger that arrived before anyone agreed to buy it, a well that has been down for more than a year, a deadline race with the start of school, and a thank-you to this paper's publisher.

Council met March 9 with all members present, and March 23 without Councilmember Darlene Kirk. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.

The Tax That Could Go to Zero

No one spoke at the March 23 public hearing on the real estate tax rate, and Town Manager Danny Davis said staff had received no comments from citizens ▶ video. Council had advertised a maximum of 12.76 cents per $100, down from 13.69 cents. Because assessments rose nearly 12 percent, Vice Mayor Peter Leonard-Morgan reminded the room, many bills will still go up.

The real estate tax brings in only about 8 percent of the General Fund. "We're running $1 million dollar surplus," Littleton said. "So by all rights, we could actually eliminate real estate tax and eliminate it. Right. Go to zero." He did not propose it. He pointed to Loudoun County, now dependent on data-center taxes it must cut to stay competitive, and asked whether Middleburg might someday face a rival resort town.

The Strategic Finance Committee wanted the Town's revenue kept in balance so no single source dominates. Councilmember Chris Bernard reported that the committee was comfortable with 12.76 cents. Councilmember Kevin Daly preferred a gradual approach: "I'm not a crisis manager because I try not to allow a crisis to develop."

Councilmember Philip Miller wanted the full equalized rate, the one that would have kept the average bill flat. "There's never a better time for us with cash on hand," he said. "A little bit of cash back in everybody's pocket makes a big difference right now as inflation has affected everybody's pocketbook." He also suggested that if the Town keeps running surpluses while its utility rates remain "the most expensive in the area," a lower tax rate could help offset them.

Council adopted 12.76 cents, 5-1, with Miller voting no (Loudoun Now, Mar. 27). Littleton asked that a review of all the Town's tax rates go on Council's priority list for after July 1. Councilmember Bud Jacobs called the question a philosophical one, and the Mayor agreed.

A Fast Charger, Already in Town

The Town wanted a DC fast charger at the new Town Hall but did not want to pay Blink's price for one. Then, through Virginia Clean Cities, it found XCharge, a Hamburg-based company with a spare unit. New Kent County had ordered it and then discovered a misunderstanding about the power it needed ▶ video. "We are currently holding the unit in a shipping crate at well four," Davis said, to laughter. Blink has released the Town from the exclusivity clause that had stood in the way.

XCharge's Alex Urist told Council the charger is a standalone, "turnkey" unit, built "like a server rack" for easy repairs, with 99 percent uptime in Europe and a 72-hour target for service calls. Drivers would pay by card; there is no app. The company's U.S. arm began in 2022 and has five chargers in the country, one of them operating, in Chicago. "Last week we sold five," Urist said.

Littleton asked the question a small town has to ask about a young company: "after five years it doesn't work and they go back home." He wanted the contract terms and the total cost of ownership, including disposal. Leonard-Morgan, whose Sustainability Committee has worked on fast charging for five years, was "all for it." Council agreed it wants a fast charger at Town Hall if the equipment and the terms are right, and staff will draft an agreement.

Well 4, Down Again

Well 4 has worked off and on since 2013 and has now been down for more than a year, as resin beads from its treatment tanks keep getting sucked back into the system ▶ video. The Town is still looking for a certified welder to cut a hatch into the bottom of the tanks. "This is just getting ridiculous," Miller said. "Either we abandon it or we fix it. Having it down for a year is just infuriating."

The fix was always meant to be the planned clear well. That project waited, Davis said, through "a year in five months going after USDA grant that fell flat on its face," and will now go to bid without federal money: "now we're at the mercy of the market."

Racing the School Bell

The Marshall Street water tower, next to the Middleburg Community Charter School, finally gets its repainting this summer. T-Mobile moves to a temporary tower on June 3 or 4, sandblasting begins the week of June 19, painting follows, and the antennas go back by July 24. School reopens July 31. Last year Davis canceled the job when the contractor offered to start blasting seven days before school started.

Littleton did not leave it to chance: "Up until the project starts, I want a weekly phone call with the contractor... this is not a request. This is a directive." With the Town Hall contractor's delays still fresh, he added: "I don't trust anymore." Bernard put the stakes plainly: if the work is still up when school starts, "it's just as bad as if it's three weeks." The Town will have about half a million gallons in reserve while the tank is out of service.

The Eccentric, Thanked Again

Jay Hubbard is the publisher of the Middleburg Eccentric.

Two weeks after honoring DeeDee Hubbard, Council adopted 7-0 a resolution of appreciation to the Middleburg Eccentric and her son Jay, the paper's co-founder and Director of Production Services ▶ video. It also cited his years as Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 2950 and his service on the board of the Windy Hill Foundation. Littleton called the paper "an absolute key cornerstone of this community for nearly 20 years," and remembered "the collaboration you guys had with Dan, you know, God rest his soul."

Councilmember Cindy Pearson admitted she doesn't like talking to reporters, "because they turn it around. But you all never did that." Bernard called the paper "the truest encapsulation of Middleburg." Davis credited Hubbard with setting up the town's first high-speed wireless internet, which brought this reply: "And I didn't climb the water tower twice." Said Davis: "we won't talk about how he got the antennas up there."

Hubbard, who moved to Middleburg at 12, told Council it was "an honor to have done this and been able to do it as long as we could."

Three New Priorities

Council adopted its updated strategic plan 7-0 on March 9 ▶ video. It came out of the March 6 retreat at The Hill School and adds three initiatives: restoring Asbury Church ($1 million is in the draft budget), alternatives for South Madison Street, and changes to the R-2 residential zoning rules. The last of these takes up the question Kirk raised in February about protecting the town's small houses.

On March 23 Davis said a consultant with a record of winning grants for projects like South Madison Street had just sent a proposal ▶ video. Staff will bring an R-2 work plan to the next meeting, aiming to finish by the end of the year, and Davis warned that bringing in consultants "could likely delay that." Littleton expects the zoning question to be more complex than first thought.

The Budget, Line by Line

Davis walked Council through the FY '24 General Fund on March 9 ▶ video. Among the details:

  • Health insurance up $68,000, mostly because retiree coverage, which retirees reimburse, now shows on the books; other premiums rise 8.9 percent. At the Strategic Finance Committee's suggestion, police health costs will move into the police budget, so the Town's spending on the department isn't understated.
  • Police: new vests (the old ones reached the end of their five-year life) and new defibrillators for the cruisers and Town Hall.
  • Events: the Mille Miglia cost the Town about $105,000 last year. It had help from a one-time $25,000 County grant and about $40,000 reimbursed by the Italian organizers, who could not pay certain costs directly. Next year's town share is put at $80,000, and Davis hopes sponsors will offset it. The event management firm is expected to cost $75,000. Salamander has asked the Town to fund its Family Reunion event, which is above the $2,000 cap in the Town's grant policy, so that request will come back to Council.
  • Other items: new tablets for Council, and a financial advisor to help decide what to do with surplus reserves once Town Hall is done.

Business license receipts showed "very solid" activity, and Treasurer Tina Staples reported that about 95 percent of businesses had paid. The budget hearing is planned for the first meeting in May.

Town Hall

Resident Bundles Murdock stopped by the new building on her way out of Salamander and came to the lectern on March 9 to say so: "It is so much smaller and more beautiful than I imagined," she said. "And it's not the Taj Mahal that we were all worried about." ▶ video

Town Clerk Rhonda North reported that architects Glavé & Holmes had solved the window problem, so the exterior finish could resume. The pavers are in, the equipment pads have been poured, and permanent power from Dominion is next. The cupola base may not be as far off as first reported, so the cupola may be built to its original size after all. After closed sessions on the Town Hall contract, Council approved, 6-0 with Kirk absent, a $117,458 contract modification with Downey & Scott for the project.

The Prosecutor, Continued

The Coalition of Loudoun Towns met with Commonwealth's Attorney Buta Biberaj's office on March 8. "I would say we got less clarity, not more clarity," Littleton reported. A new plan is coming; the mayors asked to see it before it is published, and her office took that "under advisement."

Also This Month

  • The Fun Shop: Council voted 7-0 to vacate the last, never-built stretch of South Pickering Street and sell it to The Fun Shop, Inc., which owns the land on both sides, for $20,000 ▶ video. Leonard-Morgan noted that works out to $138,000 an acre: "So we're not giving it away."
  • A ring returned: Officer Daniel Hinegardner retraced the steps of a woman who had lost a custom-made ring and found it on a windowsill beside the jewelry store, where someone had set it so it could be found. "That's typical of Middleburg," Chief A.J. Panebianco said (Loudoun Now, Mar. 14). Council also met in closed session on March 9 about hiring a new police chief.
  • The Health Center fund went to the Middleburg Charitable Foundation by deed of gift, approved 6-0, with $5,075 more from the Town to cover unrealized investment losses.
  • Loudoun Together: the Mayor's Rural Preservation Summit has a new name and a date, April 11 at Salamander, with Chuck Kuhn speaking and former Congressman Frank Wolf tentatively at lunch. Council voted 6-0 to accept sponsorships and give the $25 ticket revenue to Seven Loaves (Loudoun Now, Mar. 28).
  • Chinn Court still awaits VDOT acceptance: the state's inspector was scheduled twice and did not show up either time. The old Route 50 project fund is down to about $17,000.
  • Utilities: the Exxon's sewer lateral was leaking into the street, and the station has been told to fix it. Staples, on water shut-off notices: "I have yet to actually turn off anyone's water because Lord knows I don't want to."
  • Also: Carol Buswell joins the Middleburg Arts Council. The Farmers Market needs a lead market manager. The Planning Commission hears a two-lot Foxcroft Road subdivision on March 27.

In Other Coverage

  • On March 21 a School Board committee voted to recommend putting the Middleburg Community Charter School on probation for not correcting problems with its financial books, sending the question to the full School Board (Loudoun Now, Mar. 24).

Public Comment

March 9 ▶ video

  • Bundles Murdock, Blue Ridge Avenue, had seen the new Town Hall on her way out of Salamander. It was smaller than she imagined, she said, and beautiful and charming.
  • Public hearing on vacating part of South Pickering Street to The Fun Shop: no one spoke.

March 23: no public comment period on the agenda. Public hearing on the real estate tax rate ▶ video: no one spoke.

Tips & Wags (opinion)

Tip of the Hat to Officer Hinegardner, and to whoever set that ring on the windowsill instead of in a pocket.

Tip of the Hat to Treasurer Staples, who has gone her whole tenure without shutting off a single customer's water. A door tag and a little patience, it turns out, work fine.

Wag of the Finger to VDOT, whose inspector has twice been scheduled to look at Chinn Court and twice not come. The road isn't going anywhere. Neither, apparently, is he.

Wag of the Finger to the Well 4 saga. Seventeen months spent chasing a federal grant that "fell flat on its face," while the well sat idle, is a long time to wait for a town that pays some of the highest utility rates in the area. Next time, set a deadline for giving up on the grant.

Coming Up

  • April 1 to May 13: Foxes on the Fence, more than 40 hand-painted foxes, hounds and hares around town, auctioned for the Middleburg Beautification Committee.
  • April 11: the Loudoun Together summit at Salamander.
  • April 16: Cherry Blossom 5K and One-Mile Pooch Prance.
  • April 22: Middleburg Spring Races at Glenwood Park, and the police prescription drug take-back at Town Hall, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • April 29: Arbor Day tree planting at the Charter School, 9 a.m., and the Spring Clean Up from the Community Center, 7:45 a.m. (Middleburg Life, Mar. 30)
  • April: Council takes up the XCharge agreement and the R-2 work plan.
  • May: the budget public hearing (first meeting) and adoption (second meeting).
  • June 3-4: T-Mobile moves to its temporary tower. June 19: water tower sandblasting begins. June 20: filing deadline for the November Town election.

Sources: the meeting videos (March 9, March 23), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcripts attached to them. Quotes come from the Town contractor's transcripts; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.

Other sources cited: