Twelve Million in the Bank
Council held one short business meeting in November and turned down a request for $17,000 to throw a Scottish dance in January. The bigger news came five days later, when Mayor Bridge Littleton gave his State of the Town address: the Town has about $12 million in reserve, fired the contractor that built Town Hall over the summer, and is now being sued by it.
Council met November 14, with Councilmember Darlene Kirk absent and Councilmember Pam Curran joining remotely after the meeting began. The second November meeting was canceled for the holidays. Littleton votes only to break a tie.
The State of the Town
Littleton spoke for about 50 minutes in the Council chamber on November 19 ▶ video.
The money. The general fund ran a surplus of about $1 million in fiscal 2024, on roughly $5 million in revenue, and the Town cut the real estate tax rate again. More than half of that revenue comes from meals and lodging taxes, which can vanish in a downturn, so the Town's rainy-day reserve is set at 125 percent of a year's spending, $7.4 million, which takes a vote of Council to touch. With $4.4 million more on top, the Town has about $12 million invested through the state's municipal investment pools, which earned $474,000 in interest for the general fund last year; "we were basically earning nothing" two years earlier, Littleton said. Some of the extra is set aside for the Asbury Church, $1 million, and for sidewalks and streets. Town Hall cost about $12.2 million, Town Manager Danny Davis said, with $2.5 million in federal and County grants and 20-year debt at 2.5 and 2.7 percent. Water and sewer rates rise 3 percent a year as a matter of policy, which kept them steady when inflation spiked.
The lawsuit. Littleton laid out in public what Council had been discussing in closed session. Because of "performance issues" by the general contractor, Cooper Building Services, the Town terminated its contract this past summer and is finishing Town Hall's remaining work itself with construction manager Downey & Scott and the subcontractors. The Town held back $1.3 million in payments to pay for that work, and there is a performance bond. "Well, recently Cooper turned around and has sued the town." Asked by Donna Strama how the lawsuits were going, Littleton said "No comment," then explained: the Town doesn't comment on litigation, the filings are on the County court's online docket, and the Town has insurance. "We've got two lawsuits right now." (The other is Salamander Farms' short-term rental suit.)
The balance. Littleton called the Ridgeview rules one of the year's most substantial accomplishments, and said the goal is to keep every house from becoming a "6000 square foot, nine bedroom, $3 million monster." On visitors, he repeated what he says he tells Davis: "endless tourism is not the goal." Oktoberfest could add 2,000 people and won't. The next fight is the County's rewrite of its plan for the rural west, an 18-month process with a push for more agricultural tourism: some places north of Lucketts draw "2 to 3,000 people a day," he said, "not something I would want within a mile of town." On speed, he gave the statistic that convinced him: hit at 25 to 30 miles an hour, a pedestrian has a 70 percent chance of dying; at 20 to 25, 20 percent. Cars climbing the Route 50 hill now read 21 to 23 on the sign.
In questions, Megan Gallagher called the Oak Hill state park the most exciting thing ahead; Strama asked about the downtown streetlights, and Deputy Town Manager Will Moore said the two destroyed on July 4 are back up, with a third waiting on a protective bollard; Mike Morency asked when the surpluses are enough, and Littleton said lowering taxes again is "absolutely on the table" once the Town's list of projects is funded.
Burns Night, Next Year
Dr. Kathleen Frazier of the Middleburg Arts Council proposed a Middleburg ceilidh, a Scottish barn dance, on Robert Burns' birthday, January 25, at the Community Center, with a band, poetry, bagpipes, a Salt Kitchen buffet and whisky, and asked for $17,000 ▶ video. Council liked the idea and not the calendar. Davis said staff could not help with it eight weeks out, in the middle of December's events. Littleton asked whether Arts Council volunteers were ready to put in "10 to 20 hours a week" in January. Vice Mayor Chris Bernard asked whether it should be a private event seeking a Town grant. Councilmember Bud Jacobs, after a short history of golf, asked his colleagues to postpone it a year, and Councilmember Kevin Daly agreed: "if it falls flat on its face, it'll never happen again." Frazier said waiting a year would be wonderful. No money was approved.
Also This Month
- Police: Council bought two hybrid Ford Police Interceptors for $92,891.20, plus $30,000 to equip them and refit two older cars, for the take-home car pilot, 5-0 ▶ video. The money comes from surplus or reserves. If the pilot ends, Davis said, the cars will be sold. New officer Frank Barlan has started. Chief Shaun Jones commended Officer Hinegardner, who tried to save a woman with CPR; her family wrote to thank him. The department is growing beards for No Shave November and donating to Seven Loaves.
- Richmond: Council adopted its 2025 legislative program, 6-0: protect local land use authority, restore its say over short-term rentals, protect the business license tax ($675,000 a year) and the lodging tax (a quarter of general fund revenue), and push back on unfunded mandates ▶ video. Littleton said the push to loosen local zoning was "honestly a money grab by like Airbnb and Realtors" under the "guise of affordable housing." The Coalition of Loudoun Towns will also push for speed cameras, now allowed only in school zones.
- Committees: Council decided that seats on Town committees will be advertised when a term ends, even if the member wants to stay, 6-0 ▶ video. Littleton compared it to running for re-election. Terms will be staggered to protect quorums.
- Ridgeview: Moore said one resident took the new floor-area rules in stride; another felt her input at the hearings wasn't taken to heart.
- Asbury Church: the stabilization is done. Thirty firms answered the oral-history request, too many to pick a winner by December. The consultant's report on future uses comes December 12.
- Other business: the fiscal 2024 audit will be clean, an unmodified opinion. The first Citizens Academy is March 12; ten seats, Middleburg residents first. Loudoun approved $22 million toward the Oak Hill state park. Council approved a resolution of appreciation for Mimi Dale Stein. Whether to give Town staff December 23 off was put over to December. The Planning Commission recommended the private-bank definition change on November 25.
Public Comment
November 14 ▶ video: no one spoke.
November 19, State of the Town questions: Donna Strama asked about the lawsuits and the streetlights; Annie Nickelson asked what Town Hall cost; Mike Morency asked about the reserve and surpluses; Megan Gallagher spoke about the Oak Hill state park; Councilmember Peter Leonard-Morgan asked about the County's transition area.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to Council for telling a good idea to wait. A ceilidh in January 2026 with a year of planning beats one in eight weeks with no volunteers.
Tip of the Hat to the Mayor for answering the Town Hall cost question with a number.
Wag of the Finger to "No comment" as the first answer. The Town's two lawsuits are public records, and the Mayor knew it; he got there one sentence later.
Coming Up
- December 7: Christmas in Middleburg.
- December 12: Council's only December meeting: the audit, the Asbury Church use report, and the December 23 question.
- December 14: Dickens of a Christmas. December 21: Dickens of a Dog.
- December 16: Planning Commission, moved to the third Monday.
- January: the General Assembly session begins.
Sources: the meeting videos (November 14, State of the Town, November 19), 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.