HomeMy Public PortalAbout2021_tcmin0209 COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
Council Chamber, 25 West Market Street, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Burk presiding.
Council Members Present: Ara Bagdasarian, Zach Cummings, Suzanne Fox, Vice Mayor
Marty Martinez, Kari Nacy, Neil Steinberg and Mayor Kelly Burk.
Council Members Absent: None.
Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Town Attorney Christopher Spera, Deputy
Town Manager Keith Markel, Director of Utilities Amy Wyks, Director of Public Works
and Capital Projects Renee LaFollette, Director of Finance and Administrative Services
Clark Case, Director of Information Technology Jakub Jedrzejczak, Deputy Director and
Treasurer of Finance and Administrative Services Lisa Haley(via WebEx), Deputy
Director of Information Technology John Callahan, Budget Officer Jason Cournoyer,
Senior Management Analyst Cole Fazenbaker, Assistant Public Information Officer Leah
Kosin and Clerk of Council Eileen Boeing.
AGENDA ITEMS
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. INVOCATION was given by Reverend Deborah Parsons.
3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG was led by Council Member Cummings.
4. ROLL CALL
a. Remote Participation
Vice Mayor Martinez requested to electronically participate in the February
9, 2021, Council Meeting due to the health and safety concerns associated with the
Coronavirus. Mayor Burk, Council Member Bagdasarian, Council Member
Cummings, Council Member Fox, Council Member Nacy and Council Member
Steinberg were physically present at the meeting.
MOTION2021-031
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member
Bagdasarian, the following was proposed:
To allow Vice Mayor Martinez to electronically participate in the February 9, 2021,
Council Meeting
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 6-0-1(Vice Mayor Martinez abstain)
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
5. MINUTES
a. Regular Session Minutes of January 26, 2021
MOTION 2021-032
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Nacy, the
minutes of the Regular Session of January 26, 2021, were moved for approval.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and
Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
6. ADOPTING THE MEETING AGENDA
Mayor Burk requested item 13.c. —Motion to Approve the Proclamation for
Condemning Anti-Semitic Incidents and Hate Crimes be moved to Section 8—
Presentation of Proclamations. There were no objections from Council.
MOTION2021-033
On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Cummings, the meeting
agenda with item 13.c. moved to Section 8 was moved for approval.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg, Vice Mayor Martinez and Mayor
Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
7. CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION
a. None.
8. PRESENTATION OF PROCLAMATIONS
Mayor Burk proclaimed the following proclamations:
a. Recognition of Black History Month
b. Resolution of Respect for the Honorable Frederick R. Howard
c. Recognition of Reverend Deborah Parsons
d. Motion to Approve the Proclamation for Condemning Anti-Semitic Incidents
and Hate Crimes (Sponsor: Mayor Burk) (formerly 13.c.)
MOTION 2021-034
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Cummings, the
following was proposed:
I move to approve the Proclamation for Condemning Anti-Semitic Incidents and Hate
Crimes to be proclaimed at the February 9, 2021, Town Council Meeting.
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg, Vice Mayor Martinez and Mayor
Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
Mayor Burk read the Condemning Anti-Semitic Incidents and Hate Crimes
proclamation.
9. PRESENTATIONS
a. Town Manager's Presentation of Proposed Fiscal Year 2022 Budget
Town Manager Kaj Dentler presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 Budget to
Council.
10. REGIONAL COMMISSION REPORTS
Mayor Burk reported that she participates in a weekly Mayors and Chairs meeting
hosted by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and that they have been discussing
the COVID number and trends, vaccine distribution and when schools will reopen.
11. PETITIONERS
The Petitioners section was opened at 8:12 p.m.
There were no Petitioner's wishing to address Council.
The Petitioners section was closed at 8:13 p.m.
12. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA
MOTION 2021-035
On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the following
consent agenda was proposed:
a. Microsoft M365 License Agreement and Purchase from CDW-G
RESOLUTION2021-026
Authorizing the Town Manager to execute a 3-year Microsoft M365 license
agreement and purchase M365 licensing from CDW-G
b. On-Call Mechanical Service Contracts
RESOLUTION2021-027
Award Mechanical Service Contracts to DSIInc., EMH Environmental Inc.,
FJlndustrial LLC Inc., and WGK Construction LLC
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
c. Interchange Access Report for Battlefield Parkway/Route 15 North Bypass
Interchange Project
RESOLUTION2021-028
Awarding a Design Contract for the Development of an Interchange Access
Report for the Battlefield Parkway /Route 15 Bypass Interchange Project to
Whitman, Requardt&Associates, LLP in the amount of$1,850,000
d. Authorizing the Purchase of a Replacement Street Sweeper
RESOLUTION2021-029
Authorizing the Purchase of a Replacement Street Sweeper as Part of the
Fiscal Year 2021 Capital Asset Replacement Program in the amount of
$269,900 from Mid-Atlantic Waste Systems
The Consent Agenda was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg, Vice Mayor Martinez and
Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
13. RESOLUTIONS /ORDINANCES /MOTIONS
111 a. Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Review and Adoption Schedule
It was the consensus of Council to move the Saturday Work Session
from February 27, 2021, to March 20, 2021.
MOTION 2021-036
On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member
Cummings, the following was proposed:
RESOLUTION2021-030
Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Review and Adoption Schedule with Saturday,
March 20, 2021, as the Saturday Budget Work Session
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and
Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
b. Ad-Hoc Committee for Airport Commission Review
MOTION2021-037
On a motion by Mayor Burk, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the
following was proposed:
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
RESOLUTION
Creating an Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Structure and Role of the
Leesburg Executive Airport Commission to include Vice Mayor Martinez as
Chair, Council Member Nacy, Council Member Steinberg, 2 Airport
Commission Members decided upon by the Airport Commission, 1 Economic
Development Commission Member decided upon by the Economic
Development Commission, 11 Members Representing Airport Businesses, and
staff support by the Airport Director and the Economic Development Director
with recommendations to Council made by the majority of the Committee by
July 2021
Council Member Fox asked for a friendly amendment to add two
airport storage tenants. There were no objections to add these
representatives to the Committee. The resolution was amended as follows:
RESOLUTION2021-031
Creating an Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Structure and Role of the
Leesburg Executive Airport Commission to include Vice Mayor Martinez as
Chair, Council Member Nacy, Council Member Steinberg, 2 Airport
Commission Members decided upon by the Airport Commission, 1 Economic
Development Commission Member decided upon by the Economic
Development Commission, 11 Members Representing Airport Businesses, 2
Airport Storage Tenants and staff support by the Airport Director and the
Economic Development Director with recommendations to Council made by
the majority of the Committee by July 2021
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and
Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
Council Member Steinberg asked for a suspension of the rules to add a
motion to have the current FBO and future FBOs sit on the Airport Commission as
ex-officio members that would require an amendment to Town Code 2-223.
A suspension of the rules must be unanimous.
The motion failed by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg and Mayor Burk
Nay: Fox, Nacy
Vote: 5-2
14. PUBLIC HEARINGS
a. Public Hearing on Calendar Year 2021 Personal Property Tax Rates
The public hearing was opened at 8:27 p.m.
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
Director of Finance and Administrative Services Clark Case presented
Council with the proposed Calendar Year 2021 Personal Property Tax Rates.
Public Speakers:
There were no public speakers wishing to speak at the Public Hearing.
The public hearing was closed at 8:34 p.m.
MOTION 2021-038
On a motion by Council Member Bagdasarian, seconded by Council Member
Steinberg, the following was proposed:
ORDINANCE 2021-0-005
Setting Tax Rates on Personal Property(Section 20-22), Vehicle License Fee(Section
32-84), Motor Vehicle Tax Reduction(Section 20-25), and Personal Property Tax
Relief(Section 20-30)for Tax Year 2021, and Amending Leesburg Town Code
Section 20-25 and Appendix B—Fee Schedule
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg, Vice Mayor Martinez and
Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. None.
16. NEW BUSINESS
a. None.
17. COUNCIL DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS /ADDITIONS TO
FUTURE MEETINGS
Council Member Steinberg disclosed he spoke to Mr. Shye Gilad with ProJet. Mr.
Steinberg requested a Work Session discussion to initiate changes to Town Code 2-223 to
allow the current FBO and future FBOs to sit on the Airport Commission as ex-officio
members.
It was the consensus of Council to add this item to a future Work Session.
Vice Mayor Martinez thanked his wife for 40 years of marriage.
18. MAYOR DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS /ADDITIONS TO FUTURE
MEETINGS
Mayor Burk welcomed Goose Cup Coffee to Leesburg. Mayor Burk wished
everyone a happy Valentines' Day.
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COUNCIL MEETING February 9, 2021
19. TOWN MANAGER COMMENTS
a. None.
20. CLOSED SESSION
a. None.
21. ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the
meeting was adjourned at 8:36 p.m.
Kelly urk, ayor
Town of Leesburg
ATTEST:
/ (2).G:ledsw.4 > 61-e:et?
Clerk of Council
2021_tcmin0209
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February 9,2021 —Town Council Meeting
(Note: This is a transcript prepared by a Town contractor based on the video of the meeting. It
may not be entirely accurate.For greater accuracy,we encourage you to review the video of the
meeting that is on the Town's Web site—www.leesburgva.gov or refer to the approved Council
meeting minutes. Council meeting videos are retained for three calendar years after a meeting.
per Library of Virginia Records Retention guidelines.)
Mayor Kelly Burk: I would like to call to order the February 9, 2021 meeting of the Leesburg Town
Council. If anyone in the room needs hearing assistance, please see the Clerk. Council Member
Bagdasarian will be giving the invocation followed by the salute to the flag by Council Member
Cummings. Council Member Bagdasarian.
Council Member Ara Bagdasarian: Yes, I would like to invite the Reverend Deborah Parsons to lead
the invocation this evening.Thank you, Reverend Deborah Parsons.
Deborah Parsons: Good evening everyone.This feels like church and empty.
[laughter]
Deborah Parsons:I'm familiar to this COVID church.Thank you for the invitation.Let us pray.Gracious
God,this space is filled with women and men devoted to doing their duty as servants of the public good.
This devotion is not an easy thing. It comes with the burden of weighing different needs and desires in
the community of discerning[unintelligible]conserve,the health and vitality of this community present
and future.
I pray that these servants may also feel the blessing and the contentment and joy of making a difference,
and the blessing more often than not of experiencing community support for their efforts. So guide and
strengthen them as they carry the burden,and experience the blessing of leadership. Create good,the
right spirit, discussion, and debate as Council Members and citizens seek to formulate wise life-giving
decisions for Leesburg. In your holy name,we pray.Amen.
Mayor Burk: Thank you, Reverend Deborah Parsons. That was very nice. Thank you. Pledge of
Allegiance.
Members: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,with liberty and justice for all.
Mayor Burk: I need a motion to allow Vice Mayor Martinez to electronically participate in the meeting.
Council Member Neil Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Council Member Steinberg. Is there a second?
Council Member Bagdasarian: Second.
Mayor Burk: Council Member Bagdasarian.All in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?Okay,that's 6-0-1. Mr. Martinez,you are now participating. I need a motion for
the regular meeting minutes of January 26,2021.
Council Member Steinberg So moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved by Council Member Steinberg. Second?
Council Member Kari Nacy: Second.
Page 1 I February 9,2021
Mayor Burk: Council Member Nacy.All in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? I'm assuming Vice Mayor Martinez is saying aye.We have a motion to stop
the meeting agenda.
Vice Mayor Fernando"Marty" Martinez:You assume correctly.
Mayor Burk:Thank you.Are you moving the adoption of the meeting agenda?
Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved.
Mayor Burk:Vice Mayor.
Council Member Zach Cummings: [unintelligible].
Mayor Burk: Seconded by Council Member Cummings. I would like to ask that we move resolution
13C, which is the motion to approve the proclamation for condemning anti-Semitic incidents and hate
crimes to the presentation part rather than wait to do it there. If there is no objection, I will move it to the
presentation of the proclamation.Any problem?
[silence]
Mayor Burk:We have a motion and a second with the addition all in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? That is 7-0. We have the presentation to the proclamations and because of
the COVID,we don't have everybody here that's receiving a proclamation, and the reason we will send
this to them in the mail, but we want to be sure to recognize February 21st is Black History Month,
whereas in February of 1926,61 years after the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States
Constitution, Dr. Carter Woodson, a noted historian desired to recognize the achievements and
contributions of the African-Americans in this country.
Whereas the month of February was appropriately chosen to recognize the achievements of African-
Americans as it contained the birth anniversaries of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.Whereas
during Black History Month, we celebrate many achievements and contributions made by the African-
Americans to our economy, cultural,spiritual, and political development.
Whereas we recognize African-Americans for helping to shape our nation's identity and strengthen our
country through high moral values, resolute commitment to family, faith, service, and perseverance.
Therefore, proclaimed the Mayor and the Council of the Town of Leesburg, Virginia, hereby proclaim
the month of February of the year 2021 as Black History Month in the Town of Leesburg and urge the
citizens of Leesburg to join in recognizing the contributions, and the accomplishments of Black
Americans throughout the history of our nation,proclaimed the 9th day of February. Eileen,do you know
where we are sending this resolution?
Eileen Boeing: [unintelligible].
Mayor Burk: I believe we're sending it to one of the churches. This is a resolution of respect for the
honorable Frederick R. Howard.Whereas,a beloved member of our community, Frederick"Freddy"R.
Howard passed away October 25th, 2020. Whereas, Frederick was a beloved native son. Born in a
frame house on South King Street in Leesburg on August 22nd, 1929,and resided in Leesburg his entire
life. Whereas Freddy graduated from Leesburg High School in 1946, and later from the College of
William & Mary. Whereas, Mr. Howard served in United States Air Force during the Korean War.
Whereas, Mr. Howard served nearly 30 years in Loudoun County Circuit Clerk's office, and served as
elected Clerk from 1979 to 1991.
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• Whereas, with an infectious smile and gentlemen-like quality, he touched the lives of most Loudoun
residents by the virtue of the numerous services offered to the residents by the Clerk of the Circuit
Court. Whereas, in addition to the service as the Clerk of the Court, Mr. Howard also served on the
Leesburg Town Council, where he worked alongside former Mayor and state representative, Kenny
Rollins to obtain approval from the State of Maryland's official to draw water from Potomac River for the
Town's needs. Whereas, Mr. Howard loved his family dearly and never met a stranger. He made a
positive impact on his community by donating his time and talent to numerous local organizations.
Therefore, proclaimed the Mayor and Council of the Town of Leesburg, Virginia, hereby send our
deepest sympathy and condolences to the Howard family. Proclaimed this 9th day of February 2021. I
believe this is going to his daughter. If you ever had the opportunity to know Freddy Howard, he was
one of a kind. He really will be missed.What a charming fella he was.
Our next proclamation is for Deborah Parsons. This is to recognize Reverend Deborah Parsons.
'Whereas, Reverend Deborah Parsons began her ministry as pastor of the Leesburg Presbyterian
Church in 2008, and will step down in February of 2021, after twelve and a half years of service.
Whereas, during her tenure at the Leesburg Presbyterian Church, the Church has continued to grow
and thrive. She has welcomed nearly 300 new members into the Church and has officiated more than
70 baptisms, as well as a dozen of weddings and memorial services.
She has provided loving pastoral care and comfort to countless people during times of illness and grief.
Whereas, Reverend Deborah Parsons has been an active participant and leader in the Presbyterian,
and the inner faith clergy network in Leesburg, Loudoun County, Northern Virginia, and the region
served by the National Capital Presbyterian. Whereas, she organized several mission trips to Cuba,
where she forged a supportive relationship between the Leesburg Presbyterian Church and
Presbyterian Congregation in Guanaco.
Deborah Parsons: Guanaco.
Mayor Burk: I accented the wrong one. Thank you [laughs]. Whereas, she is a strong advocate of
social justice that's helped organize events to support immigrants and refugees, is opposed to an
opposition to racism. She has spearheaded many initiatives to provide food, clothing, and other
assistance to local families and individuals in need.Whereas Reverend Parsons grew up in Lubbock,
Texas, and within the community of faith and friendship of Westminster Presbyterian Church, she
graduated with a religion major from Austin College, a small Presbyterian related liberal artscollege,
and from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville,Tennessee.
She and her husband,David,have two daughters,Molly and Libby.Therefore,proclaimed by the Mayor
and the Council of the Town of Leesburg, Virginia, hereby commend Reverend Deborah Parsons on
her 12 plus years of service to the Leesburg community, and offer best wishes for her future. I would
like to come down and present this to you at this point if you wouldn't mind. Okay.
Deborah Parsons: No, [inaudible].Thank you very much.
[silence]
Deborah Parsons: I love living in Leesburg [inaudible]. You can't hear me [unintelligible]. I said
thank you so much. I said I've loved- I used to say I was a missionary from Texas and Virginia to the
church,but anyway,I think it's also been true that Virginia has been a real blessing to me and my family,
and have loved this community and its charm, but also its commitment to serving every person in the
community no matter race, creed, color. That can be challenging, but it seems like it's such a
commitment of Loudoun County and Leesburg in particular to serve a diverse folk who are saying,"This
is home."Thank you very much for that.
Mayor Burk: That's very, very sweet of you to say that.We are very sorry to see you go, you've been
a wonderful addition to Leesburg.
Deborah Parsons:Thank you.
Page 31 February 9,2021
Mayor Burk: I remember one of the events, diversity events, where you spoke and I was just blown
away,just very inspiring. I'm going to show you this, but I'm not going to let you take it because Mr.
Martinez has not had the opportunity to sign it. He is up on that screen somewhere. If it's okay with you,
I will take this back, and then I will get Mr. Martinez to sign it and we will mail it to you or deliver it to
you.
Deborah Parsons: Okay.Thank you very much. I really appreciate this, Mayor.Thank you.
Mayor Burk:Thank you for all you've done for Leesburg.Thank you.
[applause]
Mayor Burk:We need to get a picture.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Did you check the proclamation? I think did sign it already.
Mayor Burk:We can't[unintelligible].
Vice Mayor Martinez: Madam Mayor Burk, I do believe I signed the proclamation.
Mayor Burk: No, you didn't[laughs].
Council Member Bagdasarian: Not this one.
Mayor Burk:That's okay.We'll get it to you,you will be signing it.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I stopped by this afternoon to sign a bunch.
Council Member Bagdasarian: Not the updated version.
Mayor Burk: Not on there [laughs]. Eileen, you're going to have to help me with this. This is the anti-
Semitic proclamation. Do we have to vote on this?
Eileen: Yes, ma'am.You have to ask for a motion to approve that.
Mayor Burk:Okay. I'm asking you to vote on this proclamation condemning the anti-Semitic incidences
and hate crimes of February 9th,2021.All in favor of this particular proclamation now,would you indicate
by saying aye.
Council Member Steinberg: Motion.
Council Member Bagdasarian: So moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved-
Council Member Cummings: Second.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. I told you I was going to slip on this one. We changed our proclamation
procedures.We passed that last meeting,so this is new.We had a motion by Council Member Steinberg
and seconded by Mr. Cummings.All in favor indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?All right. Let me-
Vice Mayor Martinez: Clarification if I can ask the Town Attorney.
Mayor Burk:Yes,sir.
Page 41 February 9,2021
Vice Mayor Martinez: Mr. Spera, did we have to not suspend the rules to pass this resolution?
Christopher Spera: No, pursuant to the amendments to your Town proclamation process that were
passed in January at the meeting on the 12th.All it requires is a majority of Council Members present
to waive the requirement to allow the proclamation to be presented within a shorter than normal
timeframe. That was the amendment to the proclamation process that you passed on the 12th of
January.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Okay,thank you. I just wanted to make sure we were okay.
Mayor Burk: Right.That's what I was saying Vice Mayor Martinez,we changed these rules at the last
meeting.They're a little different, so I wanted to make sure I was doing it right.Thank:you.We will get
this to you to sign also. Let me read it out so it's on the record. Condemning anti-Semitic incidences
and hate crimes. Whereas the Leesburg Town Council disavows all acts of hate, and whereas anti-
Semitic incidences once again made up the majority of hate crimes based on religion. Whereas a
number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in the United States increased significantly in 2019,that's our latest
records,According to the FBI, in a year that saw three lethal attacks against Jews in this country.
Whereas anti-Semitic incidences, hate speech, and threats have increased in recent years. Whereas
in addition,federal officials have recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI
began collecting that data in the early 1990s with the number of murders nationwide more than doubling
the previous year. Whereas the total number of hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a
decade, whereas the Anti-Defamation League caution that the FBI's numbers probably represented a
fraction of the total hate crimes committed nationwide.Whereas the Leesburg Town Council recognizes
the American Jewish Committee, the AJC as the leading global Jewish advocacy organization with
unparalleled access to government officials, diplomats, and other world leaders.
Through these relationships and their international presence, the AJC is able to impact opinions and
policies on the issues that matter most, combating the rising anti-Semitism and extremism, defending
Israel's place in the world, and safeguarding the rights and the freedoms of all people. Therefore,
proclaimed,the Mayor and the Council of Leesburg,Virginia are committed to confronting hate and bias
crimes, and reaffirm our commitment to combating all forms of hatred and anti-Semitism,and to ensure
the safety and dignity of all the residents of our community. Proclaim this 9th day of February 2021.
Thank you. That will go in the mail also. That takes us to our presentations and Mr. Kaj Dentler has
asked for an additional 35 minutes.
Kaj Dentler:Additional.
Mayor Burk:Additional.
Kaj Dentler:We will be here a couple of hours [unintelligible].
Mayor Burk:Anybody object to giving Mr. Kaj Dentler the additional time?
[laughter]
Kaj Dentler:Good evening.Madam Mayor Burk,Members of Council.Pleasure to be before you tonight
to present the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022, which includes our general fund, utilities fund,
and our six-year capital improvements program. As your Town Manager, this is my seventh budget
presentation to the Council and it is although the second one during the COVID pandemic, is the first
one where I, and all of you are wearing masks. I'll try to make sure I can hang in there for 30 minutes
wearing a mask.
We certainly have been on a rollercoaster ride through the last 12 months, a year ago, when we were
discussing the budget with the previous Council, we are a lot of uncertainty. We have weathered that
storm to an extent, but we're clearly not out of the woods. We don't know exactly where everything's
going.We think there is some daylight with the vaccines now being produced and being distributed,but
we still have a long way to go.This budget is basically developed with that in mind,that this is a cautious,
Page 51 February 9,2021
conservative approach. Although is not a very exciting headline-grabbing budget, this is where I think
we should be in order to manage through the next 12 to 18 months type of approach.
With that being said,the basic highlights are generally what I started off with,the COVID-19 pandemic
has certainly impacted us, the Town of Leesburg. Same as it has impacted all across the country.
Whether that's governments, Federal, State, local, businesses, residents. It doesn't matter. Everyone
has been impacted one way or the other,some more than others.Leesburg has been fortunate because
of a lot of the strategic financial decisions that we've made over the years, we've been able to been
positioned to handle some things.We've taken hits,and overall,over between FY'20,'21,and'22 we're
projected to lose anywhere from 10 to$12 million in revenue.
That could go up? I don't think so, based on where we're trending, it could go down, but that's a
conservative estimate at this point, based on what we do know. We do see signs of a recovering
economy in different places. Of course, it's not fair and equitable all across the board. Everyone is
impacted in different ways.There are always those who gain from crisis situations and those who ended
up taking a step back.We have to keep that in mind.
Knowing that we're in a cautious approach,and we need to look at the short-term and long-term effects
of every decision that we make, we have developed a basic financial plan that's over multiple years,
looking out through as far out as '24. We can't predict what's going to happen, but it should give you
some level of confidence that we're not just looking at today. Again, every decision we make today
impacts us tomorrow. Hopefully, we make the right decisions but we need to have a good thorough
analysis and understanding.
All of these approaches,and understanding of where we are in our past financial performances allowed
us to have our AAA rating reaffirmed back in December by the rating agencies. I think our three rating
agencies out of New York, all feel very competent about wherever we are. That's, again, a lot of
compliment to you and to Councils of the past,who've had a lot of wisdom in decisions that we've made.
We don't always agree on everything,but we certainly come to a decision point that I believe is generally
very favorable and positive for the Town.
That being said, the headline that will become out of all of this is that I'm not recommending any tax
increases,recommending or maintaining our real estate tax rate,our personal property tax rates.I don't
think now is the time to do those things. My proposal does not have that included. I did advertise one
cent higher than the current 18.4 because I always do that as a matter of practice to give Council
flexibility should you want to do that. But that is not what my recommendation is.
The overall budget does have a significant amount of investment in our infrastructure and our amenities,
things that make our quality of life, a place where people want to live,work and play, and ensures that
our infrastructure is going to remain intact. No one cares about our infrastructure until it doesn't work.
We've been aggressive and proactive, and this budget reflects that as well. Before we look at '22
proposed, I think we need to take a step back and let's look at where we were.
About a year ago the final quarter of FY'20 was coming about, we were looking at about a three-plus
million dollar revenue shortfall. We immediately went into a reduction mode. We made a lot of
management decisions to freeze positions, cut things we didn't have to do. Deferred as much
maintenance as possible, facilities were closed. Of course, we saved money on one side, but we lost
some revenue on the other side.We took advantage of debt service savings.
As a result of all those actions,we actually produced 2.1 million in savings at the end of the year budget,
though that wasn't produced because revenues exceeded projections. It was only produced because
we made these reductions. Now,we made more than we needed to, but when you're trying to look at a
sixty-some million budget is pretty difficult to be razor-sharp, and get it right on the number.
To our advantage, we ended up with some additional funds that carries over. A year ago, Council in
March adopted the FYI 21 budget.The current one that we're in.At that point in time,we were looking
into seven plus million dollar shortfall.That number is now just over 5 million because we've continued
to manage. Our reductions. Our freezing of positions. We have over 30 positions that are vacant right
now out of the Town,they're a little less than 400 rough numbers.
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Not all of them are frozen,but a lot of them are.We've also seen revenues in some areas,we're starting
to come in a little bit better. Meals tax is not where it was, but it is showing some signs of progress.
Sales tax, based on internet sales. Every time you buy something on Amazon,that point of origination
that sales tax works its way back. I think the State is seeing about 40% increase based on that.Those
types of sales, not overall,that all trickles to our advantage over time.
Those things, keeping an eye on the short term and the long term has helped position us well.When
we look at how to balance the 21 budget that we're currently in with an estimate at 5.2 million,this chart
gives you a little bit of an idea of where that is. If you start on the left side from the bottom up, parks
and recreation revenues were down or projected to be down$2.1 million.They were closed for a period
of time based on the Governor's orders, they were allowed to reopen at the rear opening on a limited
capacity,which is based on the governor's orders.
We're not able to generate the same amount of revenues there.Consumer taxes and BPOL and hotel,
meals, et cetera, almost$2 million short. Investment income interest rates are down.We're not able to
earn as much as we were, almost 600,000. In Downtown Parking Program, because I suspended the
Downtown Parking Program back in March in an indirect symbolic way to support our businesses and
hoping that people would still want to support our downtown businesses.
That was, I think, effective to some degree, but that also comes at a price.That is currently projected
to be about 350 some thousand dollars.I do intend to resume that program in March 1 as I have advised
you unless you give me direction otherwise.That is on the revenue shortfall side.
On the expenditure side,things that I've already talked about. Freezing of positions, 15 to 18, produced
almost$1.4 plus million.We took a million dollars of cash that was allocated for the Police station project
and took that and helped us with our revenue shortfall. With interest rates being so low, that was a
prudent decision to make anyway. That helped us. We had a million dollars that came out of our
unassigned fund balance that we're able to use and then a variety of other management reductions in
order to balance it out.
Bottom line is we are required by law to balance the budget and it will be balanced.This is where we
project as it today. If that goes up or down, we'll make those adjustments with the letters as we need
to. I think it'll be less than this, but I can't predict that. This is our best estimate at this point. We will
continue to keep you updated on that as well.
Now,let's look forward to the proposed budget for'22.The general fund budget,which will be the largest
thing that we'll talk about tonight, is increasing from 62.5 million to 65.3 million. That includes base
budget adjustments,and new things,which is about$2.85 million total.The base budget, if you think of
it in these terms, is the cost of doing business. Things that we've already approved, things that we're
doing, services, employees, whether it's pay raises, it's contract increases, whatever it is, these are
things we already approved.
Unless we take things out of the budget, the budget is automatically going to grow. That's always our
starting point from day one.Then there are three enhancements that are proposed, none of which are
surprises to you.We'll walk through that for you.
Total budget of everything combined with utilities and capital projects is$137 million.You see a swing
there with capital improvements with general government coming down.That's just based on the types
of projects and the number of projects,some that are completed,et cetera.Then you see a ramp up on
utilities.We're making a heavy investment in our infrastructure and utilities.Again,the service is most
critical.We do not want that to fail in any way.
Where does the money go? 77 cents of every tax dollar we bring in goes to the largest departments
that you would expect to. Police, Parks and Recreation, Balch Library, Public Works, Capital Projects.
This is why we are a Town, because we want to provide services above and beyond the baseline of
what the County provides. If we don't do these things,there's really no point of being a Town,we should
just turn the keys over to the County.
27 cents of every dollar goes to Police.That adds additional services that we have valued for years and
years,23 cents goes to Capital Projects.20 cents goes to Public Works,trash collection,grass cutting,
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leaf collection, brush collection, snow removal, all the things that we rely upon that are higher level of
service than what you will find in the County.Then 6 cents for Parks and Recreation.
Where does the money come from?This pie chart gives you an idea of that.The top left is the largest
single source.25%is a real estate taxes,where the commercial and residential$16 million.On the right
side, you see a conglomerate of areas, whether it be meals tax, hotel tax, cigarettes tax, BPOL, et
cetera, makes up 36%. In the bottom left, Parks and Recreation is$5 million for 7%.
A lot of different sources are coming through in order to help fund the budget. This chart gives you a
little deeper dive into the revenues, and it gives you an idea of what's going down and what's going up.
Let me just take a second here. The rec center, I've already talked about that, we're looking at about
$570,000 less in the proposed budget because of the factors of the pandemic. Not able to operate at
full capacity. Outdoor pool will have an impact as well, numbers are projected to go down.
Investment income, I've already talked about, hotel taxes,et cetera.What's going up? I think one of the
headlines here is the assessments in the County are rising. Overall. Residential and commercial is
about 5% increase, but you go deeper dive there. Residential existing homes is up about 8%. There
are some new homes, about 250 plus new homes, high value, high-end, that are adding an additional
2%of value.
That's because of the way they skew the market,but 8%for existing homes is one of the key numbers.
Commercial overall is going down 8%, but the existing commercial is down 9% with a slight uptick of
new commercial 1%. Overall, about 5% increase, residential existing 8%. Commercial is down.That is
where the$804,500 is coming from, is driven from the assessment increases. Sales tax, we've talked
about that going up. Then the bottom one is the new tennis structure that we'll talk a little bit further, is
proposal Parks and Recreation to have a second bubble at Ida Lee for their tennis courts. If that's
approved,that is a revenue-producing operation, high demand, half a million dollars.
On the real estate tax, it's always a double-edged sword. You want your value to go up, but you're
always concerned about how much it goes up. In this case,for us as a government, it's actually one of
our saving graces, because you see those numbers dropping pretty drastically at this point.We'll come
back to this a little bit later.The base budget,things I talked about,the cost of doing business.Our debt
service is planned to go up. $770,000 is all part of our capital improvement program, this is not a
surprise, it's less than what it would have been. The rates were not as low, and some of the decisions
that you made to restructure, et cetera. It does go up$770,000 for'22.
Computer replacements, where would we be if we didn't have the technology. We've been able to
replace ours and stay at top of the technology world in order for our employees, and Council, and our
boards and commissions to be able to function. If we didn't have that we'd be in trouble. Staying
aggressive there is just part of our normal replacement. Then our trash and recycling contract rising
31,000.
Personnel, the largest component of our budget, its usually 55%to 60% of our budget, certainly, it will
rise. Depends upon decisions that you make. Pay raises or pay for performance, it's programmed for
employees, on average, about 3, 3.25%. They can earn up to 4% based on what they do. That's
$550,000. That's less than normal, usually, it's around $700,000 to $800,000, but because, again,
have so many vacancies at this time, there's less people to receive the raises, if you so approve that,
and I certainly hope that Council will approve that. Our employees have worked hard through COVID
and I think they deserve that.
The other item there, $321,000 for workers comp and unemployment.These are things that are direct
benefit from the world we live in today.Whether that's the pandemic and unemployment,whether that's
social unrest and protests, these have impacts to us. That doesn't mean that things happen here, but
what it means is that we are in a pool with others across the state.What happens in other places will
affect us in regards to the wallet, and we can never forget that. That's why insurance companies are
already making adjustments. Even some of the legislation that has been discussed for Police reform
may impact us even.further.
Not saying that those things shouldn't happen, I'm just simply saying there's always a business side to
every legislative action. We, as the local government are at the bottom of the totem pole and we will
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pay that and this is what is estimated to do. In terms of enhancement, there are three specific
enhancements.These are things that are new to the budget.All three of these things you know about.
The first one is a continuation of the outdoor dining program.Council has already approved continuing
it from March through June. I anticipate you will want to continue it certainly in some fashion for the 12
months after that.
177,000 is allocated in the budget for 10 months out of the 12 month year with January and February
being exempt because of the cold weather.This is also based on Friday,Saturday,and Sunday.Council
may want to make modifications to that.You may want to discontinue it after the COVID.You may want
to keep full bore. I don't know what you're going to do, but I do know you're going to want to do
something. It is your position to make that decision. Office space, something Council has talked about
off and on for a few years and even this year.
This number is basically an estimate, and everything will depend on what your decision is. You've
already given me direction to go out and find office space, not necessarily directly for the Mayor and
Council, but what it could be an indirect,whether Council and the Mayor has office space in Town Hall
or in another location. It could have a ripple effect to us. If you're in Town Hall, someone may have to
move,or unit may have to move. I don't know what the number is.
I've used an estimate based on what the pricing that we've narrowed it to date. I placed 60,000 at this
point. This number could be zero, it could be more. It really depends ultimately on what your decision
will be when I present the data that we're collecting at this point.This is a placeholder for now.The last
one is really the bigger one,an area that we certainly have been deficient in for years past. Many years
ago we used to budget for as many as 10 to 12,24 hour events.
When times got tight,former manager John Wells reduced that all the way down to two with the intention
that got us through economic hardships, but it was never intended to stay there, but the pressure to
keep the tax rate where we've kept it,this is one of the things that has suffered.What the process was,
the trucks still roll,the snow will get plowed,we will respond to storms, but when that happens,we have
to find the money within the budget to make it work.We have the cashflow to do it, but then we come
to Council and ask for you to appropriate the additional money.
If you look at the chart in FY'16, if I ever write a book, I will write about that storm.We went over budget
$645,000. You may remember it. I think it was something like 30 plus inches in 24 hours. I thought it
would never stop snowing.A lot of snow to push, so we had to dig deep into the piggy bank when we
only had$125,000 budget to start.Order of magnitude,for a 24-hour event, our costs will be anywhere
from$150,000 to$200,000. If the trucks are sitting on the side of the road waiting for the snow to come,
there's a cost.
You can't totally predict when it's going to start and when it's going to end, and one thing you do not
want us to do is to be caught off guard.Always going to be a cost. In FY'21, at the bottom,our budget
right now is$304,000.We have already spent$650,000.Again,we've covered it through our cash flow
that we have on hand, but we're already$345,000 in the hold. That all being said, I have put in the
budget$300,000 to begin to build a snow response,an emergency response.Although I'm focusing on
snow right now, it could be a tornado that we had, we were fortunate it wasn't worse. It could be any
type of event.
This gives us funds to be able to respond to things quickly.Again,without always having to go straight
to you asking for additional money. I will settle up later, but this is an attempt to try to get us where we
need to be. The number probably needs to be $600,000 to a million dollars in reality, but we have to
have a starting point on what we can afford,so this is what I have proposed.That$2.85 million increase,
that includes the base and includes the additional enhancements,this chart tells that story. On the left
side are your expenditures at 1.3 million in costs for personnel. Debt service 780,000, and it has the
three enhancements there.
On the right side are the revenues.We have a debt service reserve fund that was done back in John
Wells' day as Manager that allowed us to have funds sitting there ready to pay the increase in debt
service.Anticipating what's going to happen, budgeting for it versus saying, "What are we going to do
now?"type of thing.We have made good long term decisions in advance to help position us today.The
restructuring that we did has helped save us a million dollars. In that case, the tenant structure is
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proposed to generate $500,000 and can use $347,000 in unassigned fund. Balances the budget as
we're required to do.
As I said earlier, there's no recommendation in the tax increase. I recommend we keep it at 18.4 for
$100 of assessed value.The equalized rate is 17.8 cents. I don't recommend the equalized rate,those
of you who've been around know that I don't support that. I think by you keeping a stable tax rate,that
has helped us stay in a good financial position. If you were to adopt the equalized rate,we would have
to cut$530,000 out of the proposed budget and$262,000 out of the current budget, because you have
tax year,which is calendar, and you have fiscal year.They overlap. Just keep that in mind.
We talked about the assessments and we talked about the tax rate.This chart gives everyone an idea
of how that impacts them. Now, everyone is individual, your home, wherever you live, has different
value than mine, et cetera, et cetera. Single-family detached home average price in an average
assessment in Tax Year 20 was $532,000. Based on that increase that I've already talked about is
$580,000 is the estimate. That means that that homeowner would be paying$86 more a year and$7
more a month.
If you take all three of the categories, single-family detached, townhomes, condos, it's estimated to be
about$62 more a year or$5 a month.Again, everything is different.The County has released today a
press release on the overall assessments and people can go in and look specifically at your own home.
This gives you a little bit of an idea of what you're doing. It's positive from the credit rating agencies.
Look at this as a very positive growth.You have$50,000 increase in the value of your home for a fairly
nominal amount. Now,when I say that also recognize everyone's in different economic situation. I think
we always have to remember that.
This chart is something I've used for every year that I've been the Manager. I know some Council
Members love it and some Council Members do not like it.All this is intended to show is what Leesburg
residents get a great value. It is never intended to say that our tax rates should be that high. I have
been on the record that I believe our tax rate is artificially low, and some of the things we just talked
about on snow I think are indicative of that.That being said,what we provide in services and quality of
life, our taxpayers get a great value at 18.4. The other three places here, Purcellville, Vienna and
Herndon, although they are smaller, certainly Vienna and Herndon are very comparable in service
levels,their rates are 22 to 26 cents per hundred where ours is 0.18.
Just wanted you to be able to see that. Shift to the Capital Improvement Program. Six-year program,
very aggressive,$209 million,69 projects, 13 new ones.Almost 40% of it is utilities'investment. I think
that's a key piece of information I want you to be aware of because that reflects it.You are investing.
say you meaning Council, are investing wisely in your infrastructure.There are so many stories across
the nation that they don't enjoy this. It's not a cheap operation. Overall, water is relatively cheap when
you think about it, but that bill,when it comes in on a quarterly basis can be expensive depending upon
what you're using.
We know that when we turn on the spigot it's going to work and that's what we're counting on.We have
good clean water and sanitary sewer services. I want to walk through some of the capital projects in the
general fund. I'm sure all of these you will know.On Edwards Ferry Road,sidewalk improvements have
been related,we have residents who wanted that with the courthouse improvements,it's very important
to them. We look to start construction in late this year, we're '22, $1.3 million. Morven Park Road
sidewalk,we looked at start construction in spring of'22, and a$3.6 million.
Police Station.Take a second for this one.This is one that we will in our CIP program go through with
you in detail. I want you to see what is being proposed and designed and engineered. This is your
building. You need to know exactly what's in it,and you need to talk to Chief Brown, and talk to Renee
to understand it and be comfortable with it.
This project is planned to go to construction in 22 most likely. It was about five or six years ago. It was
introduced to the budget at around a$24 to$26 million price tag. That was too high for Council at the
time, it came out.We brought it back a few years ago at$16 million, but we probably shaved too much.
Construction costs have gone way higher than we ever anticipated,et cetera.The security needs of the
building,as well as stormwater management needs to provide secure parking,are things that are driving
it up.
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I have moved it from $16 million to $20 million. That $594,000 number you see, that's project
management costs, which we're going to talk about in just a second. Other projects too. Partial
recreation projects, Ball's Bluff,Veteran's Park at Ball's Bluff. I'm excited to see this one happen. I was
the Parks and Recreation Director when we bought the land in 2000, and there's 86 acres on the
Potomac we've land bank.
Whenever, as Council, you get an opportunity to acquire land, even if you sit on it for 20 years, that's
never a bad decision because we're not making land anymore. But because of the County's
graciousness in giving us the $4 million in grant, we're able to move forward with design and
construction with that. The tennis center. This is another one I think you need to be paying very close
attention to make sure you're comfortable with it.There's already a tennis bubble there with four indoor
courts.
What is proposed is to have a permanent tennis bubble over three existing outdoor courts, which are
outlined in the red. Previously,we had talked about it being a seasonal bubble,where it would stay up
during the winter and go down in the good times.What is proposed is year-round because it generates
more revenue. It meets the demand of a lot of players, although I'm sure everyone likes outdoor, but
you need to be aware that would be comfortable with this steady value.As long as you're comfortable
with that, it's your decision, but I need to make sure you are thinking through that decision process.
A couple of road projects. We always have these, Battlefield Parkway, Route 15, bypass interchange.
It's on your agenda tonight. I believe for the interchange justification or access report.East Market.This
one is Council Member Fox. You have always looked at this one. This is the area on East Market at
Plaza and Fort Evans.This is a study,estimated$123,000 to begin to evaluate how could that be fixed.
We already know, whatever the fix is, it will be extremely expensive and it could be very difficult for all
parties. We are going to look into that because the priority that you have identified. This is a study to
start the conversation. Couple of remaining projects, Evergreen Mill Road widening from South King
Street all the way to Heritage High School. This would include a request to the County to bring
Evergreen Mill Road in front of Heritage, into the Town so we can control the traffic signals right now.
Right now VDOT does, it's clunky. We have a great relationship with them, but this will give us a full
control, et cetera. There's a design project going on there. It will take some time before we're ready to
get there. Hangers in the airport. Revenue producing opportunities for us, continued growth as we've
talked last night in previous, this is a positive for the airport and the Town, and our economic driver.
Great demand for hanger space. Last one of the General Fund Capital Projects is the talent shop
expansion and renovation. This is right off Russell Branch Parkway, almost right between Lowe's,
across the street from Lowe's, and Cobb Theater.
That area in red is identified as land that's immediately adjacent to the shop. The shop is to the right.
This is our Public Works shop,and we are already having conversations about the potential acquisition
of that land. Even in order to grow that facility. If we don't take advantage of the opportunity, if we're not
able to be successful at a price we feel comfortable with, then somewhere down the road, 10, 20, 30
years, whoever's making these decisions is going to remember that day, because you're not going to
have land somewhere unless something falls out of the sky.
I think long-term, this is a very strategic decision you need think carefully of, and we'll present more
details to you as we're continuing negotiations,but that's part of it. Even as the actual renovation needs
to slow down and we just acquire the land, secure it and use it as a storage yard. That's a positive for
long term. Remember what I said earlier, short-term and long-term decisions. All of them matter, you
can't just look at one perspective over the other.
CIP management. This is an important part of the CIP project. The management is all the overhead.
These are the staff, the equipment, et cetera, that we use to build design and build the projects. It
contains three things, direct costs, which are the staff who are actually using their billing time when
they're actually on the project. Indirect cost, if it they're on vacation leave, or sick leave, or training.
Then other staff that are supporting the project,but not directly.It could even be myself.Amount of time.
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That being said, those components,the current practice,this Council is to fund that entirely with cash,
$2.4 million.There's a variety of practices,all are legal and ethical and good.Some are better,but often,
it just comes down to your financial situation, and where your comfort zone is.
Council's philosophical position has been in the past that we need to pay in cash. We've been putting
$200,000 a year at this. You still have four years to go at the pace we're going. The propose practice
that we're asking you to consider, and we'll go deeper in detail when we get into the sessions because
it can get complicated, is that we pay the indirect costs in cash,and that would be$1.46 million.
This would be when staff are either on sick leave,vacation,training,or those that are supporting,those
are your indirect costs. It's not directly billable, but we capitalize the direct costs of the engineers and
staff when they're billing towards that project. If we do that,the savings that it produces for FY 2022 is
$335,000. That'll go up and down over the years based on the volume of size of the budget, but as a
direct benefit, we've used that savings based on this practice to pay for the snow and emergency
response fund.
In reality, there's a little bit more than that, but that's the premise that you need to understand.Again,
we'll go through this. It's your comfort zone of where you are.We'll make adjustments if you don't want
to do it, but this may be one of the discussions in our one-on-one sessions to really take time to make
sure you got it.
Finally, going down to the utilities fund revenue, our budget$43 million.There's total operations is$25
million. Capital projects is $16 million. There's two specific capital projects based on Department of
Environmental Quality for sanitary upgrades for $3.5 million and Virginia Department of Health
requirements for treatment technology improvements,and then investments in our aging infrastructure.
Council approves a five-year plan. We used to have Council approve everything one-year at a time,
and that was difficult to get decisions and be able to look long range. Several years ago, many years
ago, we went to a five-year plan. It's a full rate study and analysis of everything. It is detailed, and
Council will make a five-year plan.
My job is to follow that plan that you've approved.That's what we've done here.We're in the third-year,
it shows a 4.5% rate increase and four new staff positions that come with that, which are two
maintenance,one operations, and one customer service.We have 16,000 plus customers.We have, I
think 400 miles of pipe, more manholes and valves that we can count,that I can count.
It takes a lot to cover the system to be at the level of service that you expect us to meet. Our customer
service division is a godsend that we went in that direction, never knowing that COVID was going to
occur. If we didn't—used to be one person in the Town, ran their whole show of all the accounts,that's
impossible today.
There are some big decision points for Council to make regarding availability fees in the future. Plant
expansions,we've had discussions on serving data centers.We also have emergency interconnect with
Loudoun Water.So we have some big discussions at play. In the budget,there's a preliminary analysis
of plant expansions to help you with those decisions.
Ultimately, whatever decisions you make will guide what infrastructure we need to do, but those are
future decisions coming. Summarizing. We're in very strong shape. Despite COVID and the hits that
we've taken and we've lost,we estimate we'll lose$10 million to$12 million,we are very strong because
a lot of decisions that we've made in the past and decisions that Council made in the last Council and
I'm sure the decisions you will make in this process.
• We recommend maintaining the tax rates,both real estate and personal property,but you have a public
hearing on that tonight.Developing a revenue stabilization reserve fund about$2 million using the funds
we already have in our some savings from our debt restructuring,CARES Act funding reimbursements
that we did in unassigned fund balance.
That's intended to be able to put us in a position if we have another economic crisis,whatever that may
be, whenever that may be, we're better positioned to deal with that than where we are today. Then,
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again, using a very cautious approach, remembering decisions short-term and long-term all have
impacts on us. I am almost done, I promise.
Tonight, you have a budget schedule in front of you for action. I have reinserted the Saturday session
because there are three new Council Members. I'm going to anticipate that you will want more time,but
it's Council's decision to vote on it. The budget needs to be wrapped up on voted on March 23rd. We
have the same amount of time we always had. We have about six weeks to get through it, which is
plenty of time with our work sessions of public hearings.
We have the one-on-one sessions that we will offer all of you. I strongly encourage you to take
advantage of because we can really dive into details on things and make sure you have plenty of time
to process everything.The reason we have to be done on the 23rd is,we have to turn our tax rates over
to the County who now does our billing and collection process for us.Outreach.We just put information
out on the website,our social media sites,we have an ask a question process,any questions that come
through we will address all of them.Any questions you ask us,we also put that out publicly.You have
it, but also the public has it.That is the end of the presentation. How did-32:44. Madam Mayor,that's
the presentation. Not going to pass the books out because they're heavy, but they are there when you
leave tonight, I ask that you please take yours.Your name is on it.There's a lot of information there.
There's so much information of what I went through tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions you
have, but I really think it's a better process for you just to take it all in and start formulating what your
words are going to focus on and what you need to get help on so we can help you make the decisions.
At this point,the budget now belongs to you and we look forward to working with you.
Mayor Burk:All right. Does anyone have really impending questions at this point?The Town Manager
has suggested that we wait,read the budget and wait to ask questions,but does anybody have pending
questions that they absolutely need to have? Ms. Fox.
Council Member Suzanne Fox: Just one quick question. The presentation that you just did, I don't
think you sent it to us.
Kaj Dentler: I broke the rules. I don't like to send you the presentation in advance because I want you
to listen, but it's already ready for me to hit send. You're going to get it and this presentation, we've
posted publicly.
Mayor Burk:Anyone else at this point. I just have one about the--Go ahead, Mr. Martinez.
Vice Mayor Martinez:I understand that you have positions that are frozen and that I'm assuming mostly
the positions that are frozen are because of the lack,for example, lack of work with Parks and Rec and
other areas within the Town.The reason you're not filling these positions or have let people go because
[inaudible]or because of the lack of work or that we can give them because of the COVID-19.
Kaj Dentler: I can't hear. Can you repeat that? I could not hear the question.
Council Member Steinberg: [inaudible] presentation is because of lack of work.
Kaj Dentler: In Parks and Recreation, most of the staff are part-time. They work if we have hours for
them to work. Have we riffed anybody? No. Have we been able to give them hours? Not everybody. It
depends on what the services,what part of the building we can use and how many people determines.
Yes,there have been people who haven't been able to get hours.That's true.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I guess the reason I'm asking this is to clarify that once we start recovering,
we're going to need those positions to handle what the Town normally takes care of,and that right now,
we have people on board working for us that are doing double time on some areas.
Kaj Dentler: Correct. As the Governor relaxes the orders or removes the emergency orders, then the
programs will resume and staff will be hired back if they're still available, or we'll hire new staff,
absolutely. That's the only way we could hit the revenue goals and go back to where we've normally
been.
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I understand your question and yes,absolutely. Because of the number of vacancies that we've had in
the management reductions,we've been able to keep as many staff on board with work. We've even
moved staff,one Parks and Recreation staff to Finance in order to meet needs in another place.
We had a staff member who has a financial background. His particular market area was not needed
based on the changes,but he was needed somewhere else. He kept his job. He's doing a great job and
it fits. We will shuffle the deck chairs as we need to, to keep the operation going and keep people
employed.
Vice Mayor Martinez: The reason I asked this question is because there's been some discussion on,
"Well, if we have these positions frozen, why do we need to unfreeze them?Why do we need to have
them?"I'm trying to say that we do need them because where we're at today,we cannot deal with that,
but as soon as we start recovering too,we're going to need staff to handle managing, working with the
Town.
Kaj Dentler:Absolutely, I completely agree.Where we are today is not sustainable long-term because
eventually,the staff can't keep up.So services either have to be changed or modified,but we can't keep
delivering what we've been doing.At some point,things will have to be changed, but we do anticipate
that things will get better and we can bring everybody back.We're already starting to hire some people,
but not all 30 positions will be filled.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Right.Your estimates on the tax rate,the budget,and all that other,you said it's
conservative. Define your conservativeness.
Kaj Dentler: I guess what I think I've tried to say, is that the budget is presented to you in a cautious,
conservative approach that I do not think that this is the year with a lot of uncertainty with the pandemic,
what that financial impact has on our economy long-term, and how fast our businesses are going to
bounce back so we have to be cautious and conservative in our approach to this budget.
The main goal that I see at the '22 proposed budget, is to get back to where we were on July 1, full
funding, everyone employed, all the services and operations going. We're not there today. I'm just
hoping we can get back to square one at this point. I don't think if we are too aggressive,we overextend
ourselves and the economy doesn't bounce back and you look at those revenues, we have an over-
reliance on consumer taxes, meals tax, hotel tax, business license fees.
If the businesses don't do well, it impacts us. Immediately,we have to make some decisions.We can't
get too far ahead of that, is trying to figure that control the levers at the right time. I hope that helps you.
Vice Mayor Martinez:The reason I brought that up, I wanted to make sure that we put it out there that
when you say conservative,that you are trying to protect our ability to provide quality of life and service
to our residents.
Kaj Dentler:Absolutely. I'm trying to make sure that our core services continue to get done.Whether
that's snow removal, leaf collection, Parks and Recreation, Balch Library. Everything we're doing that
we normally do. I'm trying to make sure we're able to get to that.
Vice Mayor Martinez:Also, last thing I'm going to comment on is that you showed us a bunch of taxes
and revenue streams. I would like to have it broken down even further and what taxes in revenues we
control. I know, for example, that sales tax, we really can't control that because we get that from the
State who gives it to the County who gives it to us. I would like just to know what exactly we can control
for revenue and taxes.
Kaj Dentler:What you can or cannot?
Vice Mayor Martinez:What we can control.
Kaj Dentler: You can control the real estate, personal property, meals tax, people, hotel tax, cigarette
tax,and probably a variety of other things that don't come to mind.Certainly, Parks and Recreation fees
can all be controlled, utility fees.There's a lot that you do control.
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Vice Mayor Martinez: That I think should be when you're presenting your graph or your circle or your
pie that that's broken out together so that we can see what percentage of the dollar we're working with.
That's it.Thank you, Kaj. I appreciate your presentation.
Kaj Dentler:You're welcome.
Mayor Burk:We're going to ask questions, yes?
Council Member Steinberg:Thanks for the presentation, Kaj.The fiscal'21 budget, the general fund
was roughly$63 million.Which you said-
Kaj Dentler: $62.5 million.
Council Member Steinberg:Which you said we were first anticipating a$7 million so hole but it shrank
to$5.2 million, I think and you managed your way through it.The proposed budget is now$65 million.
Are we saying we've got the same$5 million whole in the$65 million budget that we're managing our
way through or is this the actual budget?
Kaj Dentler:The$62.5 million is your natural growth of the budget that's going to occur to you use the
term, the cost of doing business. Your contracts are going to rise, your employment costs, which are
the biggest driver of your budget at 55%, 60%of your budget is human resources and capital. Council
doesn't have to do pay raises.That's$550,000 I think off the top of my head,you don't have to do that.
Council Member Steinberg: All I'm asking is, are we still managing our way through a $5 million
shortfall?
Kaj Dentler: Absolutely. That chart that I showed you of how we're balancing out, we estimate $5.2
million in shortfall,we're managing that through different reductions and another levers that we control
to balance that out because we got to be balanced by law at the end. If the economy doesn't come
back, it goes south here and the revenues don't come in as we think they are,then we've got to make
other decisions. If it gets better,then we can pull back on some things.
That's why we're constantly monitoring that and reporting to the Council so you know where we are as
well.We've been doing that.One of the things that I did ask,if you may recall when we got to the March
of last year to approve the budget, I asked you to trust me.That you allow me to manage the budget as
you hired me to do versus what I would have said, knee jerk reactions to cut the budget right at that
point in time, because that's really when the pandemic hit.
March, we didn't know what was going to happen. The promise though, was that we were report
regularly to you, we'd manage it, and if we had to make, take action, we would take it and we have
managed it well, we've got it positioned. We'll continue those same promises. Yes, we're managing
through the deficit that we see at this point.
Council Member Steinberg:Thank you.
Kaj Dentler: Is that helpful?
Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian.
Council Member Bagdasarian: This will be a very simple, quick question. The emergency fund is
timely because of the projected snowfall. Do surpluses rollover to the following year when there is a
surplus year,when it comes to the emergency funds and for--?
Kaj Dentler: The$2.1 million, it fell out in FY'20. That at the end of the year, when the audit is done,
then Clark, as our Director of Finance and the auditor that are going to come to you and you have to
make a decision on how to appropriate that money.We have a 20% unassigned fund balance that has
to be taken care of.
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If let's say that it was$3 million surplus or year-end savings, but you need$1 million to ensure that you
have your 20% met,then you have$2 million leftover. Council will then decide how to use that money.
You can rolt it over, you can have it as one-time expenditures. One of the things that we've changed
over the years and this is really a credit to John Wells, when I started as the Parks Director in '96,
whatever money we had leftover from year one,"Okay,we have$5 million to spend,where do we want
it to go?"Off to the races the directors went saying, "I need this, I need that, I need that."
Council will make the decision. Some of those decisions were not one time expenses, they were
recurring expenses. That $5 million that you just added to the budget might be $6 million next year.
We've gone away from that wisely and looked at where do we put those money in reserves, we built a
debt service reserve fund,we have a capital asset replacement program.It used to be we had no capital
asset replacements.
If you needed to replace HVAC equipment or a parking lots or fleets, you'd have to argue in front of
Council every year,"I need six new cars or I need this."There was no plan.We strategically placed that
carry over money based on your fiscal policy, but Council also makes a decision outside of that policy.
Once you set the policy,that money goes in those buckets.Anything else,you make the final decision.
Council Member Bagdasarian:Thank you.
Kaj Dentler: You're welcome. Sorry, that's a long answer but I think that gives you a global picture.
Wait till the budget team starts giving you details you'll get more than you want.
Mayor Burk:Would you go back to the, Oh, it's gone. The slide that had the calendar.
Kaj Dentler:Which slide?
Mayor Burk:The slide that had the meeting time.
Kaj Dentler: The meeting?Sure. Right there.
Mayor Burk: Okay.You have a Saturday meeting on the 27th.
Kaj Dentler: I do.
Mayor Burk: That's one meeting away. We've got one on the 22nd and then you're suggesting a
Saturday. Is there any way to move that Saturday much further down the line because we may end up
not needing to do a Saturday.All of us hate coming in on Saturdays. Could you not move that down to
a March date rather than a February date?We could just say,we're okay.We don't need it necessarily.
Kaj Dentler: Absolutely. This is your schedule.This is how we just laid it out.You don't need to follow
it at all. You tell us what you want.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Madam Mayor.
Mayor Burk:Yes, Mr. Martinez.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I'm retired and I enjoy working on Saturdays.
Mayor Burk: Okay.You can come in Saturday.
Kaj Dentler: The short answer is you can do whatever you want.
Mayor Burk: My last question is, it looks like there is a strong possibility that we will be getting money
from the Federal government, localities. Our Senators are working very hard to make that happen, our
local Senators. Have we considered what we would do with that? I know that NVRC has anticipated
and put a chart together of how much they anticipate Leesburg, Loudoun County, Purcellville,
everybody would get. Have we looked at that, and are we looking at what where we would use it if we
got that?
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Kaj Dentler: Not yet. I'm optimistic there's something is coming,but I don't know what the reality will be
in terms of what are the strings or terms and conditions until that legislation is passed. I don't know how
we can use it,so I'd haven't wanted that cautious approach. I haven't wanted to count that until I have
it in hand and know what the rules are.
It's possible we could use it for capital projects to bring our debt down other programs, you may want,
relief firms,whatever will. I don't know what is the answer right now, but we are definitely watching.
Mayor Burk:All right. I'm sure all of us will contact you to set up times to sit down and do that in-depth
discussion.
Kaj Dentler:Tara will be reaching out with all of you to see if you want those meetings.
Mayor Burk:All right.Thank you very much.
Kaj Dentler: Thank you very much.
Mayor Burk:Appreciate it, even though you did go over time.[laughs]Next,our Regional Commission
reports does anybody have a Regional Commission report? The only thing I have is every Monday,
we're still continuing. Northern Virginia Regional Commission is still continuing to have the mayors and
chairs meeting,and we have been discussing in-depth,the COVID numbers and what they mean.Many
times the Health Directors,department directors are online and they are optimistic that the numbers are
starting to go down with the COVID hospitalizations and all of that.
They are optimistic that the vaccines are going to increase here shortly, and that we will be able to
vaccinate more people on a regular basis, but that is the struggle is getting the vaccines. It's not the
setup. We have a huge facility at the Nordstrom building, and we have volunteers and that's not a
problem, but it is the vaccines themselves.We continue to work on that.
We had Governor Northam joined us today and he talked about opening schools and how he feels it's
very important that the kids and teachers go back to school but that it needs to be done safely. Loudoun
is just about done with all of their first rounds. I think they are done with their first rounds and they are
starting their second round for teachers.They are looking at opening pretty soon.
NVTA is the 11th and the Mayor's meeting will be the 10th so I will be able to report on those later.That
takes us to our petitioner section. One of the first orders of business is to hear from the public. All
members of the public are welcome to address the Council on any item matter or issue.Please,identify
yourself and if comfortable doing so, give your address for the taped record.Any public speaker will be
requested to state their names and spell it for the purpose of closed captioning.
In the interest of fairness,we also ask that you observe the five-minute time limit.For those participating
in person or on WebEx,the green light on the timer will turn yellow at the end of four minutes,indicating
you have one minute remaining. At that time, we would appreciate your summing up and yielding the
floor when the bill indicates your time has expired.
For those participating on the phone,you will hear a bell when your time is up. Under the rules of orders
adopted by this Council, the five-minute time limit applies to all. Council was now able to hear from
members of the public remotely. Once we have heard from everyone present in the room,we will hear
from the members of the public on the phone or the WebEx. Right now, we have nobody who has
signed up to speak. Is there anybody that is signed up to speak on the WebEx?
Keith Markel: Madam Mayor,we don't have any one online.
Mayor Burk:Must not be very interesting tonight.Then I will ask you if there's anybody in the room that
didn't sign up, that would like the opportunity to speak at this point? There is no one. I will close the
petitioner section at this point and move on to the consent agenda. Let me get my agenda here.
The consent agenda,we have four items. Number one is, I will read the items then I will ask if anybody
wants anything removed.Then I will ask for a motion.Approval of the consent agenda, Microsoft M365
Page 171 February 9,2021
license agreement, and purchased from CDW-G. This is authorizing the Town Manager to execute a
three-year Microsoft M365 license agreement and purchase of M365 licensing from CDW-G.
The next one is an on-call mechanical service contract.This is to award mechanical service contracts
to D-S-I-E-N-H Environmental, FJ Industrials LLC, and WGK Construction LLC. 12C is the interchange
access report for Battlefield Parkway, Route 15 Bypass Interchange project.This is awarding a design
contract for the development of an interchange access report for Battlefield Parkway Route 15 Bypass
Interchange project to Whitman Requardt and Associates LLP, in the amount of$1,850,000.
Then D is authorizing the purchase of a replacement street sweeper authorizing as part of the fiscal
year 2021 capital asset replacement program in the amount of $269,900 from Mid-Atlantic Waste
Systems. Does anybody want anything removed?All right. Do I have a motion?
Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved by Vice Mayor Martinez. Seconded by Council Member Cummings, no,
Steinberg,sorry.All in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? 7-0. We have two resolutions. The first one is the fiscal year 2020 budget
review and adoption schedule. Do I have a motion on that?
Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved by Vice Mayor Martinez. Second?
Council Member Cummings: Second.
Mayor Burk: Council Member Cummings. Is there any discussion on this? Everybody okay with this
one?All in favor--
Council Member Cummings:Was that the schedule that moving the Saturday out?
Mayor Burk: Is this the schedule to move that this is Saturday out that I just talked to you about?This
item talks about the schedule for the review.I asked about the Saturday change and we wanted to know
if we could move the Saturday to time in March.
Kaj Dentler:Absolutely,tell us what date do you want?We'll try to hold it in Town Hall and but obviously,
if you're running any problems,we'll find another room, but you pick the date,we'll find the location.
Mayor Burk: Does anybody have a date-specific to March?We would have the option of canceling it if
we should decide we don't need it.
Council Member Steinberg: The public hearing is the 8th?
Kaj Dentler: The public hearing is for the budget is on Tuesday,the 9th.
Council Member Steinberg:The 9th.
Kaj Dentler: Then you have the personal property public hearing tonight as well. Then you have the,
another public hearing on the 23rd for the tax rate and everything.You've got multiple[crosstalk]includes
the public.Yes, you got multiple legal steps you got to do, but all the work sessions,that's all flexible.
Council Member Steinberg: I think it should be a Saturday after the public hearing regarding the
budget.
Kaj Dentler:You don't want to move the public hearing dates because they're advertising all that.Work
sessions are totally flexible.
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Council Member Steinberg: I'm talking about the Saturday work session. Maybe the-
Kaj Dentler: I don't have it.You have a-
Mayor Burk:What about the 20th of March?
Council Member Cummings: I think[unintelligible]
Mayor Burk: It should be the first day of spring.
Council Member Steinberg:Yes. Either would work for me.
Mayor Burk: 20th works?
Council Member Steinberg: If we need it we have it.
Mayor Burk: Suzanne, you okay with the 20th?
Council Member Fox: Yes, I think so.
Mayor Burk: Kari, you okay with the 20th? Mr. Martinez, okay with the 20th? I know you're retired.You
just got finished telling us.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I am fine.
Mayor Burk: Can we move it to the 20th?
Kaj Dentler: Is that March or?
Mayor Burk:Yes.
Kaj Dentler:That's fine.
Council Member Steinberg:We have to have our final decision by the 23rd, right?
Kaj Dentler: Yes.You have to be done on the 23rd.That's your vote night.
Council Member Steinberg: As long as everybody feels comfortable, but between the 20th and the
23rd, no issues arise.
Kaj Dentler: If you have the work session on the 20th of March,then Jason likes to work on Sunday so
we'd have everything ready on Monday. Then after you make all the changes on Monday night, he'll
work overnight to make sure that everything's ready on the 23rd. He doesn't mind.
Council Member Steinberg: Okay.Well, now-
Kaj Dentler: He doesn't even want a pay rise.
Council Member Steinberg: I'm actually being surprisingly serious. For that very reason, I'm
wondering if the week before, if we're going to do a Saturday, we'll actually then give everyone so that
we don't push so hard up against the deadline.That's all.
Mayor Burk: You're going to be at the end of all your meetings [crosstalk] you probably won't even
need it.
Kaj Dentler:Yes,don't worry about the staff.We got to get this done so we will make it happen. I think
you'll know as you go step by step or you need more,do you need less,type of thing.
Council Member Steinberg:We can leave at that point.
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Kaj Dentler: Set your schedule and then we'll just go one day at a time.
Council Member Steinberg: I'm sure Marty will help Jason.
Kaj Dentler: Yes.
Council Member Fox: The other thing I was wondering about was did we decide to move our retreat
to that month too on a Saturday?
Kaj Dentler: The retreat, if we use the facilitator that we've hired, he's not available in March. The
Council is going to ultimately have to tell me when you want to do it. I think the more realistic using the
facilitator, that particular facilitator is more April or May. You'll have to make a decision if you want to
use that one,find another one,or use none, in order to pick your date.
At your next work session, I've asked you to give me your goals and I think in two weeks, you'll know
when you want to do the retreat if you want to have a retreat, what's the format, et cetera. Don't worry
about that at this point.
Mayor Burk:We have a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez and Council Member Cummings to adopt the
fiscal year budget review and adoption schedule moving the Saturday meeting to March 20th. All in
favor?
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?Okay.That's 7-0.The next one is creating an Ad Hoc Committee to review the
structure and role of the Leesburg Executive Airport. Do I have the motion? I lost my papers. Wait a
minute. [laughs]There we go. I would like to make a motion for this one.
I would like to move that the Town Council approved the creation of an ad hoc commission to review
the mission statement, the vision, and the procedures of the airport commission, including, but not
limited to the makeup of the commission membership. The commission will be chaired by the Vice
Mayor with the appointment of three members, the Vice-Chair, and the two other Council Members
being Ms.Nacy and Mr.Steinberg,two members from the Airport Commission selected by the members
of the commission. One member from the Economic Development Commission selected by the EDC
members, 11 members from the Airport Business Community,and the Economic Development Director
and Airport Director will be support for the ad hoc commission.The ad hoc commission will recommend
to Council any Airport Commission changes and adjustments agreed to by the majority by July 2021.
Do I have a second?
Council Member Steinberg: Second.
Mayor Burk:All right. Do we have a change that we need to the resolution? Is there a question?
Council Member Fox: I just took a look at the makeup again of last night.The committee is composed
of, such and such. We didn't think of representation of people who actually owned aircraft or tenants
there.Do we need that?
Mayor Burk: Mr. Spera, what would we have to do to make that happen?We have a resolution that
we're looking at right now.
Christopher Spera: Right. We can amend the resolution pursuant to whatever it is you want to do.
We'll just prepare a new one.
Mayor Burk: Suzanne,don't you feel that the tenants would be a part of the airport commissions?
Council Member Fox: I don't know about that. I know that there are several of them.
Mayor Burk:We have 11 members from the Airport Business Community,and two members from the
Airport Commission.Aren't they tenants?Aren't they Airport Commission?
Page 201 February 9,2021
Council Member Fox: I'm not sure who tenants are. I don't see representation from them, even if we
have airport commissioners,they're commissioners.They're not--
Mayor Burk:They're tenants.
Christopher Spera: You mean a tenant that rents a tie-down space, or a hangar as opposed to a
business that's running a commercial space?
Council Member Fox:Yes.
Christopher Spera: Essentially an airplane storage tenant would be of--
Council Member Fox: I don't know. I think that's something we overlooked.
Mayor Burk:Are you making a friendly amendment?
Council Member Fox: I think there needs to be some sort of representation. To tell you the truth, I
don't know how many, but I think there needs to be some representation.
Mayor Burk:Well,what's your motion?
Council Member Fox: I'm going to go ahead and make a friendly amendment, let's say to tenants and
owners.
Mayor Burk:All right.To airport's storage tenants without authority?
Christopher Spera: Yes.
Mayor Burk: I have no problem with that. Do you, Mr. Steinberg?
Council Member Steinberg: No.
Mayor Burk:We can add that to it.Any other questions or discussion at this point?All in favor, indicate
by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?That passes 7-0.
Council Member Steinberg: Madam Mayor, on a related topic, I'd like to put a motion forward. The
intent of the motion is to allow the current FBO and future FBO to begin sitting in the commission
meetings now, and then we'll see where we get to with the Ad Hoc Committee.The motion reads that
we would initiate an amendment to Town Code Section 2-223, to make a representative of each FBO
at the airport, an ex officio member at the airport commission.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Madam Mayor?
Mayor Burk:Yes.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Point of order. This is a resolution that was not on our agenda and can't be
moved unless it's a suspension of the rules.Am I correct?
Mayor Burk: Mr.Spera, is--
Christopher Spera: I'm nodding my head.Yes, I believe that is correct.
Vice Mayor Martinez: It's not that I don't agree with you, Neil, but you need to suspend the rules.
Mayor Burk: Does it have to be unanimous or majority?
Page 211 February 9,2021
Christopher Spera: Suspension of the rules has to be unanimous.
Mayor Burk: All right. This is to initiate a public hearing. This is not to do it yet, but to initiate a public
hearing to consider changing--
Council Member Steinberg: To amend Town Code Section 2-223,since--
Vice Mayor Martinez:We have to vote to suspend the rules first.
Council Member Steinberg: Yes.
Mayor Burk:Yes,we are doing that.
Christopher Spera: That's correct.
Mayor Burk: Please, indicate if you are in favor of suspending the rules to initiate this public hearing,
say aye.
Members:Aye.
Mr. Christopher Spera: No, not public hearing,to initiate the motion.
Mayor Burk: Oh, suspension of the rules. I'm sorry. All in favor of suspending the rules, indicate by
saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?
Council Member Fox: Nay.
Mayor Burk:All right, so that goes nowhere. Sorry, Mr. Steinberg.
Council Member Steinberg: No problem.
Mayor Burk: Did you not have something that you needed to add to the resolution about the Airport
Director? Didn't we miss out on the Airport Director on the resolution?
Christopher Spera: What I wrote down was that the Economic Development Director and the Airport
Director would be staff support.That's what I heard you say.
Mayor Burk: Correct. I did say that. Do we have to change the resolution?We did that by doing that.
Christopher Spera: We will prepare a new resolution based upon what you voted on and approved
this evening.
Mayor Burk:All right. Okay.
Christopher Spera: It will include the Economic Development Director and the Airport Director will be
direct staff support for the Ad Hoc Committee.
Mayor Burk: All right. Thank you. All right. That then takes us to our public hearing. This is a public
hearing in here. Yes. Okay. I called to order a February 9th, 2021, public hearing the Leesburg Town
Council. Unless there's an objection, I will dispense with the reading of the advertisement. If you wish
to speak,we ask that you either sign up on the sheet in the hallway outside of the Council Chamber. If
you do not get the opportunity to sign up,we will give you an opportunity to speak.We will also provide
remote public participation for callers on the phone or on the WebEx.
Page 221 February 9,2021
In all cases, please identify yourself and if comfortable, give your address for the taped record. In the
interest of fairness, we also ask that you observe the five minute time limit. For those participating in
person and on WebEx,the green light in front of you will turn yellow at the end of four minutes,indicating
that you have one minute remaining. At that time,we would appreciate your summing up and yielding
the floor when the bell indicates your time has expired.
For those participating on the phone, you will hear a bell when your time has expired. Under the rules
adopted by this Council, the five minute time limit applies to all citizens. However, rather than have
numerous citizens present remarks on behalf of the group, the Council will allow a spokesperson for
the group a few extra minutes. In that instance, we would ask speakers when they sign up to indicate
the status of the spokesperson,the group they represent and their request for additional time.
Our procedure for the public hearing is as follows. First, there was a brief presentation by staff on the
item before us.Second,members of the public that has signed up to speak will be called and given five
minutes.The public hearing item on the agenda tonight is Calendar 2020 Personal Property Tax Rate.
Clark Case: Good evening Madam Mayor Burk, Vice Mayor Martinez, members of the Town Council
and members of the public, I'm Clark Case. I'm the Director of Finance and Administrative Services for
the Town. I'm here to do the staff presentation for the public hearing for the setting of the 2021 tax year,
personal property tax rates,the Personal Property Tax Relief Act percentage, and the vehicle license
fees.
The Loudoun County bills the personal property taxes for the Town under MOA or memorandum of
agreement,which is a contract and their contract with us requires that we do a separate adoption of the
personal property tax rate from the real estate tax rate because they need 30 days earlier approval in
order to adjust their systems to actually build the personal property taxes for the Town.The County bills
the personal property taxes semi-annually in May and October. Personal property tax is rated for
vehicles that move between jurisdictions. Per agreement with the County, the personal property tax
rates must be adopted by the Town Council in February.There are no proposed changes in the 2020
tax rates for personal property taxes in the Town Manager's proposed budget. The aircraft tax rate is
$0.001 per$100 of assessed value. The reason the rate is so low for those aircraft is that the cost of
the aircraft is very high.Also,the aircraft are very mobile.
Keeping our rate competitive with the other airports in the region is very important and this rate is the
going rate for personal property taxes on aircraft in this region. Motor vehicles are all set at$1 per$100
of assessed value. Tangible personal property excluding public service corporations, is $1 per$100
assessed value as well. The Town also taxes bank capital at 80¢ per$100 of the net capital of the
banks located within the Town limits.
None of these rates have changed.We're proposing no changes in the personal property tax structures
at all. If Council chooses to make any changes, they will have implications both for the current fiscal
year 2021 budget and the fiscal year 2022 proposed budget because the tax year overlaps both fiscal
years.
The fiscal year 2021 proposed budget includes personal property tax revenue of$2.2 million based on
the current rates and personal property tax revenue is about 4%of the general fund revenue.While it's
an important source, it's not one of our largest ones.
The State of Virginia passed the Personal Property Tax Relief Act and gives the Town a set dollar
amount of money to distribute it amongst all the vehicle owners within the Town's jurisdiction and
provides for a reduced personal property tax rate that is applied on the first$20,000 of the vehicle.The
Town Manager proposes an unchanged personal property tax relief percentage for the tax year of 2021
of 50%of that value.
The proposed vehicle licensed tax fee for tax year 2021 is unchanged at$25 per vehicle for all types of
vehicles.The vehicle license fee is billed by Loudoun County on the same bill as the personal property
taxes.The vehicle license fee is assessed according to where the vehicle is on January 1,2020,where
it's garage. It is not prorated if the vehicle moves between jurisdictions during the year, and we are
required to do it that way,because that is how the way the County does and our MOA always stipulates
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to that.With that, I'll answer any questions Council or the members of the public may have in the public
hearing.
Mayor Burk: Anyone on this side having questions? Mr. Steinberg, your light on.
Council Member Steinberg: No.
Mayor Burk:Anyone? It there a motion?We have to let the public speak.
Clark Case:There's a resolution at the end of this, but I would say that the Town has not changed its
personal property tax rate in many years.This is a fairly normal proposal.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. We have nobody who has signed up to speak. Is there anybody on WebEx
that is-
Keith Markel: No one is participating online.
Mayor Burk: Then I will close this public hearing. Is there a motion?We need a motion. [laughs]You
got to be more specific than that.
Clark Case:The motion we're looking for is to approve the personal property tax rates as proposed by
the Town Manager.
Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, I move to approve the personal property tax rates
[unintelligible].
Mayor Burk: That's moved by Council Member Bagdasarian. Second by whom? Council Member
Steinberg.All in favor, indicate by saying aye.
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? All right. That passes 7-0. Does anybody have any additions to future
meetings, Mr. Steinberg?
Council Member Steinberg: Yes. I'd like to bring up the subject of the FBO representation on the
airport commission at the next work section.
Mayor Burk: All right.Are there four people that would like to have the discussion on the FBOs? Mr.
Steinberg, Mr. Cummings, myself, Mr. Bagdasarian and Mr. Martinez?Yes. _
Council Member Steinberg: I had a conversation with Shye Gilad of Project by phone a couple of
weeks ago.
Mayor Burk:Any other comments at this point?Then I have nothing. No one has anything to add?Mr.
Town Manager, you have any comments for tonight?
Kaj Dentler: I think I've spoken enough.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Madam,Mayor.
Mayor Burk: Yes,sir?
Vice Mayor Martinez: I just wanted to thank my wife for 40 years of marriage. It's our anniversary this
weekend.
Mayor Burk: Oh, congratulations.All right. I do have a couple of things. I just want to welcome Goose
Cup Coffee and Restaurant. It's a lovely new place. It serves food and all types of drinks from morning
to night.The decor is lovely and the people could not be nicer.We did a ribbon cutting there this week
and although I'm not a coffee drinker, I hear from Mr. Bagdasarian that it is a great coffee location. If
Page 241 February 9,2021
you get the chance to stop by, and I just want to wish everybody a happy and safe Valentine's Day. Is
there a motion to adjourn?
Council Member Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: Seconded?
Council Member Bagdasarian: Seconded.
Mayor Burk: Second by Mr. Bagdasarian.All in favor?
Members:Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?All right.We are done.Another meeting--
Page 251 February 9,2021