Leesburg Town Council Work Session – February 23, 2026
Leesburg Town Council Work Session – February 23, 2026
The Leesburg Town Council held a work session on February 23, 2026, beginning at 7:00 p.m. The main agenda items were the first budget work session for Fiscal Year 2027 and a legislative update from the 2026 Virginia General Assembly. The council also considered board and commission funding requests, discussed funding scenarios for pavement management and public safety, and reviewed proclamation requests.
Discussion Items
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Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Work Session #1 – Mr. David Rose (Davenport & Company, the town's financial advisor) presented a high-level financial overview. He noted that Leesburg maintains a AAA credit rating from all three agencies, with an unassigned fund balance of 39.1% of expenditures (well above the 20% policy). He highlighted challenges including the end of ARPA/CARES funds, inflation, rising VRS payments, deferred maintenance ($50–$60M over 10 years), and a $380 million six-year capital improvement program. He recommended a multi-year financial pro forma, evaluating user fees (stormwater, trash, parking, airport), and continuing to use data center computer equipment tax revenues conservatively (only after collection and for one-time uses). He also noted that the town has received $6.8M in data center revenues to date, with $3.4M received in May 2025 and $3.4M in October 2025. Councilmembers asked about tariff impacts, user fees, the use of data center funds for operating vs. one-time purposes, the high unassigned fund balance, and the need for annual utility rate increases (4-5% to keep pace with inflation). Mr. Rose acknowledged that data center revenues are still new and recommended caution.
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Board and Commission Funding Requests – Tamara Keesecker presented the proposed budgets for boards and commissions. The FY27 proposed budget includes $317,000 for 14 boards, down from $327,000 in FY26 due to removal of one-time costs. Six commissions requested additional funding totaling $201,875, mostly one-time costs: Commission on Public Art ($9,500, including increase for selfie mural project), Environmental Advisory Commission ($1,500), Parks and Recreation Commission ($3,000 for Bike Leesburg event), Performing Arts Commission ($8,100 for PA system, advertising, equipment), Residential Traffic Commission ($175,000 for rewrite of traffic management plan), and Tree Commission ($4,775 for adopt-a-spot, tree planting, tree walk update). Council questioned the compensation differential (planning commission and BAR receive COLAs per code, others do not) and the rationale for not including these requests in the proposed budget (they are advisory boards; the town manager leaves increases to council discretion).
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General Fund Key Enhancements – Keesecker outlined one-time enhancements funded from unassigned fund balance: Subdivision and Land Development Regulations update ($175,000), Development Fee Study ($150,000), Lasseter Way improvements ($150,000), Bike Lane Network Master Plan ($200,000), Downtown Floodplain Improvements ($450,000), Tavistock Dam engineering study ($250,000), and Virginia 250 celebration enhancements ($75,000). Council discussed the scope and timeline of the bike plan, floodplain study (possible realignment for economic development), and the dam study (similar to Exeter Dam but town-owned).
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Funding Scenarios – Keesecker presented two pre-packaged scenarios not included in the proposed budget: (1) Pavement management – Option C (one-cent tax increase, ~$1.45M/year) would achieve a pavement condition index of 72 by FY2036; Option D (one-cent increase plus $1M/year data center revenue) would reach 78. (2) Public safety – a one-cent tax increase plus $612,000 from unassigned fund balance to fund collective bargaining, an assistant town attorney, public employee homeownership grant ($100,000), and public safety resources (watch commander, co-responder officer, four patrol officers, LPD wellness program at $23,000). The police chief explained the wellness program (mental health clinician, peer support, training) funded by a two-year COPS grant now expiring. Council clarified that achieving both scenarios would require a two-cent tax increase. They discussed using data center revenues for pavement as a scalable one-time use, and the need for a stormwater fee by July 1, 2027, or else real estate tax increases or service reductions.
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General Assembly Legislative Update – Keith Markel reported on the 2026 session (60-day, long session). The town's only locally introduced bill (plastic bag tax, HB 341 by Delegate Martinez) passed both chambers and awaits the governor's signature, potentially generating $40,000–$50,000 annually. Several bills of concern were highlighted: affordable housing on religious/nonprofit property (SB 388, HB 1279 – allows by-right residential up to 20 units/acre, 40-45 feet height, stripping local control); manufactured housing in all residential districts (HB 655); accessory dwelling units as by-right (SB 384); small lot districts (3,000 sq ft); a requirement to increase housing stock by 7.5% over five years (SB 758); reduced minimum parking near transit (HB 1183); photo speed monitoring device reporting requirements; and mandatory online posting of elected officials' financial disclosures (opposed by VML). Markel noted that many bills passed their originating chambers and are moving to the opposite. Council discussed potential conflicts with the ongoing zoning ordinance rewrite and the importance of preserving local land use authority.
Proclamations
- Arbor Day (April 24) – Approved for presentation on April 14.
- Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (April 2026) – Approved for April 14.
- Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month – Approved for April 14.
- A request for a proclamation to end “Jewish Hatred Day” on April 29, with the condition that the language not be edited by staff, did not receive four supporting votes and was not approved.
Key Outcomes
- The council approved the three proclamation requests (Arbor Day, Sexual Assault Awareness, Child Abuse Prevention) for presentation at the April 14 council meeting.
- The council agreed to cancel the scheduled Saturday, March 21 work session due to a conflict, and directed staff to place a resolution on the March 3 consent agenda to officially cancel it.
- No straw poll votes were taken on budget items; council will review further before the next budget work session.
- The council entered closed session for a land/property acquisition matter (Section 2.2-3711 of the Code of Virginia). After returning, the motion for certification passed unanimously, and the meeting adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Let me open tonight's town council work session of February 23rd, 2026. Our first item uh for discussion tonight is the proposed budget for fiscal year twenty twenty-seven. Um but we have Mr. Rose is speaking first, is that correct? I guess somebody's introducing you. Good evening, Mayor Burke, uh council, just a brief introduction. Mr. David Rose will be here tonight uh to give a high-level overview of the town's finances. Uh a little bit different schedule. We were supposed to do this at the end of January, but this the snow kind of moved it to this meeting, and then our budget officer will go into a presentation to kind of kick off the the budget program. So Mr. Right. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us, Mr. Rose. Sorry that you had to get canceled last time, but trust me, it's uh it's a never-ending snowstorm, I think. This was winter. Uh again, mayor, members of council appreciate the opportunity to be here. Um I will not be too long, I promise. Um I know you've got a number of other things, um, and you've all seen me before. Again, as uh Ms. Schneider said, um, Davenport with myself as monks as my colleagues have had the opportunity to serve as your financial advisor for over a quarter century. You can see here on the background, we've been able to work with you strategically, proactively uh on a number of things, and I think at the end of the day, uh one of the reasons why the town is uh in such good financial shape is that your staff, uh, which is deep and strong, uh, takes these things very seriously, and their goal is to make sure you have the most informed information uh to move forward on this upcoming budget. I think it's also worth noting that literally short of because of the snow, it is the first meeting I attend every year amongst many clients that we have, and it shows you because that requires preparation starting back in October, November into December to be ready to go effectively, literally that first week of uh of January. So again, this is our annual update from a very high overview. Uh, I would point out that if there's any questions that you have and I can't answer, certainly uh just go through the town manager and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. As you could see here, the command the comprehensive review has a series of goals and objectives. Uh, but at the end of the day, it really is here to make sure that you see what I see from the outside, looking in independently. Um it is not a surprise, it is not coincidence that you are a triple-A local government by all three of the national rating agencies. That's not easy to keep, as you know, just across the way, just a couple months ago. Both Maryland estate and the local government, Prince George's County were downgraded from that vaunted level. So it's not a sacrosanct. I mean, it's not said that you can't move from there, it's possible. So again, with all of that, um, let me just give some summary observations. Um here, uh, you have demonstrated and continue to demonstrate a strong triple A credit rating, sustainable long-term management. You've done that, uh, but there are several challenges, both in the short term and the long run. And that second bullet there, uh, many of these are out of your control. Uh the legislature is not quite done yet, uh, and even if they're finished this year in a couple of months or a couple of weeks, a couple of months, of course, with the uh veto session, um, there's gonna be a number of things that they're going to do that will impact you over the next several years. And you don't have control over all of that, and some of those can be very expensive. On top of that, um, we want to make sure that while the data center is a revenue generator, uh, it is also something that's being talked about a lot in the enrichment and what it might mean and what it might mean for its future. So, again, we want to be careful with that uh and want to recommend that while we use those dollars prudently, we use them after the fact and not rely on them uh prospectively. But uh again, I'd like to make sure we have the money in hand before you really go out and commit to various projects. That said, would love to see you use more like reducing debt on a one-time basis or a multiple basis for that matter, or doing some capital funding with paygo if you take some of the data center dollars at the right time. Um, lastly, uh one of the things we recommend, it's really in the middle there, uh, is to try to move toward what we'll call user fees, uh, where those that get the benefits pay for that, and as a result, keep the pressure down off the general fund. That would be the theme, I think that we've been kicking around, and hopefully we've got some ideas and recommendations. Stormwater enterprise fund being one of those. Okay, I'll move very quickly here. Um, unassigned fund balance. That's your rainy day fund. It's moved up very nicely, as you can see over the last half dozen years.
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