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March brought the budget proposal. It includes another police officer and $1 million to help Windy Hill build affordable housing, a new water rate structure that charges heavy users more, and a slightly lower tax rate. Then, on a Tuesday afternoon, someone robbed Middleburg's Truist bank. Two days later residents came to Council asking why they had heard so little.
Council met March 12 and March 26 with all members present, after its two-day strategic planning retreat on March 6 and 7. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.
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Around 4 p.m. on March 24, a robber showed a weapon at the Truist bank on Washington Street. Middleburg police asked the Sheriff's Office to take the lead. The Town's statement that evening said the building and the area around it had been searched and were safe, and no one was hurt. By the next afternoon there was still no arrest, and the Sheriff's Office was releasing no details (FauquierNow). Residents watched police run through town, and word spread that the robber had fled through Ridgeview toward Salamander.
At public comment on March 26 ▶ video:
- Darlene Weeks of Chestnut Street said, "I had little old ladies call me," and she had nothing to tell them, not even whether the robber had been caught.
- Megan Gallagher said she got the Town's alert email but took it for spam. She asked for a clear protocol for telling residents when to stay inside.
Town Manager Danny Davis said the response by the Town police and the Sheriff's Office had gone well. During an incident like this the Sheriff's Office handles communications, and the alert said what it should: avoid the area, heavy police presence. "There was no threat to the public," he said, so telling people to shelter in place would have been wrong. Residents need to sign up themselves for the Town's alerts on its website and the County's at loudoun.gov/alerts. Vice Mayor Chris Bernard noted the Town can't sign people up.
Councilmember Pam Curran didn't accept that. "The good news is nobody was injured," she said, but she got calls too, about children getting off school buses while armed officers ran down Stonewall Avenue. People have asked for plain, community-facing messages ever since the Hill School scare in 2024. Littleton said the Town has to balance accurate information against needless alarm, and promised to work on it after the review of how the response went.
Another Officer, and $1 Million for Housing
On March 12 Davis presented a fiscal 2027 budget of just over $5 million ▶ video:
- Revenue and spending: revenue up 3.4 percent and spending up 4.9 percent. This year's surplus is projected at $577,000.
- Police: one more officer, which the retreat agreed on. That puts two officers on duty two-thirds of the time, at a net cost of about $125,000 a year, with the car paid from reserves. Police pay rises 5 percent with steps; other staff get 2.5 percent plus merit. Littleton made the extra officer contingent on a talk with the Sheriff first.
- Housing: $1 million from reserves, held in escrow, so Windy Hill can borrow from the County for new affordable units in town. The Town would pay about $52,000 a year toward the loan, and Davis hopes it becomes a model for small towns in western Loudoun.
- The tax rate: the rate drops to 11.8 cents per $100, adopted 7-0 on March 26 after Gallagher spoke in favor ▶ video. Many residents will still pay more because home values rose faster than commercial ones. The 19 Salamander Residences homes built or underway are 4 percent of the town's houses but 18 percent of their value.
Curran asked about the lodging tax. The Town keeps 5 percent of an 8 percent rate, and a 1-point increase would bring in about $288,000; a 1-point meals tax increase, about $386,000. No one proposed either.
Water Rates, Tiered
The proposal shown above would cut the minimum bill from a flat $85.54 to $64. Use up to 10,000 gallons every two months would cost $33.25 per thousand gallons instead of $42.77, and anything above that $49.25 ▶ video. The average household would pay about 23 percent less. A restaurant using 45,000 gallons would pay 6.7 percent more. Total revenue stays the same, plus the usual 3 percent. Pearson worried about the restaurants. Littleton said businesses can pass on the cost and cut waste, adding that it drives him crazy to see restaurant taps left running. He said 17 percent of the town is lower income, and some households could save $600 a year. The utility fund discussion continues in April, with public hearings May 14.
The Town is asking its congressman's office for $2 million in community project funding for the Well 3 PFAS treatment and water main replacements, with $700,000 of its own. Council's resolution of support passed 7-0 ▶ video. Meanwhile the state lists the area in drought emergency, though the Town's wells look fair. Running Well 3 has raised Well 4 to 158 feet.
Also This Month
- Strategic plan: Council adopted nine initiatives for 2026–2027, with Council liaisons and staff leads, 7-0. Action plans come in April. - Asbury Church: - Cash donations have reached $18,300. - The films have nearly 2,500 views, and the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund may feature the project. - A fundraising firm request went out March 23. - Clerk Rhonda North is applying for a state historic preservation grant of up to $1 million. - Notecards, ornaments and mugs with the church's sketch will be sold, and larger donors get a ceremonial key. - Citizens Academy: the second class graduated March 11, including Donna Strama, Sue Sierra, Ann McCarty, Carolyn Hersh and Earlene Coleman. There are now fifteen graduates. - Richmond: the accessory-dwelling-unit bill passed and, if signed, takes effect July 1, 2027. Town Attorney Martin Crim said fire separation will be the main local tool. Bernard predicted that letting every lot add a unit would push up property values. - Business association: Punkin Lee's annual report listed eighteen new members and a February survey whose top concerns were workforce housing and staffing. Littleton would rather give the extra $5,000 proposed for Visit Loudoun to the business association's social media. The question goes to budget talks. - Around Middleburg: the Training Center. Council didn't take it up in March, but the month's biggest local fight was over the Middleburg Training Center near St. Louis. The Army wants to buy it as a permanent home for the Old Guard's Caisson horses. More than 100 horsemen gathered at Buchanan Hall in Upperville on March 4 to oppose the sale. Owner Chuck Kuhn confirmed the Army had approached him. An Army spokesman said the search was focused on that site alone. On March 26 Rep. Suhas Subramanyam asked on the House floor that the process slow down and that the Army look at other sites, warning of lost jobs in the local horse economy (FauquierNow, March 27). - Other business: - A police records system now links with the County's, and Council approved a matching agreement with the Sheriff, 7-0. - Chief Shaun Jones will apply for an $18,400 Byrne grant for ballistic shields and breaching tools. - Council approved a $90,000 sidewalk repair contract with Capitol Flexi-Pave. - AT&T and Verizon antennas move to a corral on the Stonewall water tower before it's repainted. The two pay the Town $101,000 a year in rent. - Ali MacIntyre, the Town's business development director, is leaving. "She leaves big shoes to fill," Lee said.
Public Comment
March 12 ▶ video
- Punkin Lee, West Federal Street, praised the retreat and supported the additional police officer, citing shootings around the country.
March 26 ▶ video
- Megan Gallagher, East Marshall Street, praised the budget presentation, supported the added officer, and asked for a protocol to tell residents when to shelter in place.
- Darlene Weeks, Chestnut Street, asked what the Town's communication protocol is after the bank robbery.
Public hearing, real estate tax rate: Megan Gallagher spoke in favor.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to the Middleburg police and the Sheriff's deputies, who reached a bank robbery fast and kept anyone from getting hurt.
Tip of the Hat to Ali MacIntyre, for Oktoberfests, markets, a Burns Night and a Grinch. The Town got a lot of joy out of one director.
Wag of the Finger to a town alert that reads like spam to the people it's meant for. "Sign up" is the right advice; the Town should make sure the message is worth signing up for.
Coming Up
- April: utility fund and rate discussion; strategic plan action plans; police staffing talk with the Sheriff; America 250 Trivia Night at Lost Barrel.
- April 25: Wellness Day.
- May 9: Art in the Burg.
- May 14: public hearings on the budget and utility rates. May 22: next Asbury design meeting. May 28: budget adoption.
- Summer: VDOT repaves Route 50; sewer repairs on West Washington and South Pendleton first.
Sources: the meeting videos (March 12, March 26), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcripts attached to them, and FauquierNow for the robbery and the Training Center. Quotes come from the Town contractor's transcripts; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.