Option Two
In April the budget shrank. With meals and lodging receipts slipping, the Town Manager withdrew his own request for two more police officers and offered a leaner budget he called Option 2. Council also spent most of an evening on water: how to pay off the utility fund's debt, whether to charge the biggest users more, and how to ration it if the drought returns. The Mille Miglia warm-up, it turned out, isn't coming back this year.
Council met April 10 and April 24 with all members present; Councilmember Peter Leonard-Morgan arrived late to the first. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.
Option Two
Through the fall, meals and lodging taxes ran 8 to 11 percent ahead of the year before. Then meals tax receipts fell 14 percent in February and 6 percent in March, compared with a year earlier, and lodging growth slowed to about 5 percent ▶ video. Littleton was blunt: "We are headed for rocky roads." He noted that inflation was back near 3 percent and that companies cut travel and conferences first in a downturn. JP Morgan, he said, put the odds of a recession this year at 60 percent.
On April 24 Town Manager Danny Davis offered Option 2 ▶ video:
- Revenue: meals and lodging taxes held at this year's level, $240,000 less than first projected.
- Police: the two new officer positions dropped, saving $264,000.
- Mille Miglia: the warm-up's revenue and spending removed.
The result would leave about $275,000 for the unexpected instead of $123,000. Davis said he had heard Council's hesitation, and he will bring the officers back in a future year. "I'd rather err on the side of caution. I like option two," said Councilmember Kevin Daly, who had moved the police pay plan in the fall. Council agreed.
Davis also reported that the Mille Miglia's organizers appear to be pausing their warm-up and won't return to Middleburg for now. Staff is looking for another car event.
Paying Off the Water Debt
On April 10 Kyle Laux of Davenport, the Town's financial adviser, called the Town's finances very good ▶ video:
- Surpluses: about $1 million a year for five years.
- Meals and lodging taxes: up 17 percent a year, compounded.
- Investment income: last year it equaled two-thirds of the real estate tax.
He also warned that much of that revenue depends on one taxpayer, Salamander, so the Town should keep a bigger cushion than most towns: "cash is king." Littleton noted that after the 125 percent reserve and the projects already promised, only about $1.5 million is truly free, and tariffs could eat that quickly.
The utility fund owes $1.4 million in short-term notes on June 30. Council agreed to pay the $300,000 taxable note from utility cash. The general fund will lend the utility fund the other $1.1 million rather than go to a bank. "Why pay a bank," Littleton asked, when the Town can pay itself. A larger borrowing waits until the study of Well 3, the backup well where PFAS was found, shows what new wells or treatment will cost.
Who Pays for Water?
Eric Callocchia of NewGen Strategies brought a three-tier rate idea ▶ video. It would bring in the same total revenue. The smallest users' bills would fall by half, the average user's by 28 percent, and anyone above about 19,000 gallons a billing period would pay more. The Strategic Finance Committee had asked whether rates could be eased for lower-income residents, which state law doesn't allow directly.
There were two problems. The first was Salamander. It uses about 40 percent of the Town's water, and Littleton said a 40 percent bigger bill would send it looking for other water, such as hauling in water for the pools or using its own wells for irrigation. The second was the apartments. Windy Hill's Llewellyn and Levis Hill buildings each have one meter, and their bills are split among the tenants. Littleton said that could leave "this donut hole around the multifamily units that get hit with the upper" tier. Council kept the usual 3 percent increase for July and will study a new structure over the summer, possibly for December.
Rationing
Davis and North's rewrite of the water conservation ordinance has three levels: voluntary, mandatory and rationing ▶ video. Davis said 80 percent of households use less than 150 gallons a day and would barely notice rationing. The top ten users take 55 percent of the Town's water, and about 40 customers would be affected. Businesses would be asked to cut a set percentage from their own average. Megan Gallagher, who waters the plantings at her townhouse community, called the levels sensible and noted that native plants need extra water only in their first year. Littleton wants a waiver for leaks. A community meeting is set for May 20, and adoption for May 22. Meanwhile the state lists Northern Virginia in drought emergency, Well L hasn't recovered from the Presidents Day main break, and Well 4's pump will be dropped from 350 to 500 feet.
Also This Month
- Mary Ann Burns: Council thanked the retiring Arts Council chair, who came to town with Old Ox Brewery, for five years of events. She called Middleburg "an event planners dream." Littleton gave her a T-shirt reading "The office is closed" ▶ video. - Christmas in Middleburg: Vice Mayor Chris Bernard reported on a draft agreement with the parade organizers ▶ video. Littleton suggested a better route: rewrite the Town's event permit so any event over 5,000 people needs a fuller application, a public presentation, proof of insurance and six months' notice. Staff will draft it. Bernard said most people are comfortable with the current 9,000 to 10,000 attendance. The Town gives the parade $10,000 and $12,000 to $15,000 in police time. - Police: the take-home cars reached the officers in mid-March. Chief Shaun Jones said the program has lifted morale and brought in more applicants, and asked for a full review in six months ▶ video. Bernard noticed traffic warnings had fallen from 40 to 50 a month to single digits since October; Jones will look into it. - Short-term rentals: now broken out at the Mayor's request, they produce 1 percent of the lodging tax. - Other business: - Council bought a new server for $28,459.60 before tariffs raise the price. - It enacted rules to enforce electric-car-only charging spaces. - Sewer inspections found problems on East Washington, Federal and Liberty Streets. VDOT agreed to delay repaving Route 50 a year in case the Town has to dig. - The directory sandwich boards have been removed. - The house at 104 Chestnut Street will be built under the old Ridgeview rules. - Intern Jessica Manley finished her term. - The farmers market opens May 3 with 25 vendors; Art in the Burg is May 10.
Public Comment
April 10 ▶ video
- Megan Gallagher, East Marshall Street, supported the water conservation ordinance's three levels.
April 24 ▶ video
- John Ross asked for signs warning of an extra $200 speeding fine at the town entrances and the removal of the truck route signs on Route 50.
- Martha Cotter asked that the three spaces in front of the post office be limited to 15 minutes.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to Danny Davis, for pulling his own proposal when the numbers turned. That's harder than defending it.
Tip of the Hat to Mary Ann Burns. Five years, a brewery and a lot of events: the office may be closed, but the town is better for it.
Wag of the Finger to the drought. Another dry winter, a well still down from February's break, and a rationing ordinance being written in April, before summer has started.
Coming Up
- April 26: Spring Clean-Up, drug take-back and Arbor Day.
- May 3: farmers market opens. May 10: Art in the Burg.
- May 8 and 22: Council meetings. Asbury Church design and construction contracts; on May 22, a public hearing on utility rates and adoption of the water conservation ordinance.
- May 20: community meeting on water conservation.
- May 30: Middleburg Day.
- June: budget adoption.
Sources: the meeting videos (April 10, April 24), 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.