Leesburg Town Council Meeting - March 24, 2026: FY 2027 Budget, Tax Rate, and Employee Compensation

The Leesburg Town Council met Tuesday evening, March 24, 2026, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber at Town Hall (25 West Market Street). The central item was the close of the FY 2027 budget cycle: council heard public testimony on employee compensation, held a public hearing on the 2026 tax rate and fees, adopted the FY 2027 budget and the FY 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program, and approved consent items and two agreements. After amending the budget to restore a 2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), add a one-time $1,000 bonus for employees earning under $100,000, add funds for collective bargaining, and defer a police lieutenant hire, council kept the real property tax rate flat at 17.74 cents per $100 of assessed value. Note: meeting minutes were not available; the transcript is a rough transcription with inconsistent name spellings, and discrepancies are flagged below.

Consent Calendar

• Minutes: Approved the Work Session minutes of March 9, 2026, 6-0-1 (Council Member Steinberg absent) and the Regular Session minutes of March 10, 2026, 5-0-2 (Steinberg and Council Member Wilt absent).
• Agenda: Adopted 7-0 with no amendments or deletions.
• Proclamation - Keep Leesburg Beautiful Month (April 2026): Adopted 7-0. (The transcribed proclamation text says "April 26th," while the agenda title says "April 2026.") Deanna Burke of the Leesburg Environmental Advisory Commission accepted, reporting 12 participating businesses offering volunteer discounts/coupons, two "golden grabbers" awards for the top trash-collecting groups (under 10 and over 10 people), a kickoff event April 11, and last year's volunteers collecting literal tons of trash.
• Consent Agenda: Approved 7-0: (a) South King Street & Route 7/15 Bypass Interchange Access Report (IAR) design contract authorization; (b) Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) easement and right-of-way agreement, Miller Drive SE to 2070 Hangar Row Lane SE; (c) avigation easement from Village at Clear Springs pursuant to county proffers; (d) right-of-way encroachment agreement at 109 South King Street; (e) Water Pollution Control Facility replacement of process blower building feeder cables; and (f) appointment of Tara Orndorff to the Economic Development Commission.

Public Comments & Testimony

Four residents spoke during the Petitioners period. No members of the public signed up to speak at the formal public hearing on the 2026 tax rate and fees.

• Justin Schumer (introduced by the Mayor as "Schooner"; the transcript shows both spellings), a Town of Leesburg employee speaking for himself and his family: Said he began his career with $100,000 in college debt at a $39,000 annual salary, earned a master's degree with his wife while raising three small children, and has fostered more than a dozen children. He now earns a six-figure salary but said he and a majority of his colleagues still cannot afford to live in Loudoun County. He stated the $2,000 raise is intended to be more equitable for lower-paid staff and he respects that goal, but for him it is less than a cost-of-living increase, and the decision will affect the workforce for 10-15 years. He asked council to remember that employees "are more than numbers on a spreadsheet."
• Brendan Murphy (493 Marshall Drive NE, Leesburg): Supported the goal of helping lower-salaried staff but opposed the flat-rate plan, arguing it creates $71,000 in savings by reducing cost-of-living protection for the most experienced professionals (engineers, department heads, senior technicians), effectively asking veteran staff to personally fund their colleagues' relief. He warned of salary compression and morale erosion, and said replacing one key professional would cost far more than the $71,000 saved today. He proposed a "COLA Plus" model-a 2% base raise for everyone plus a one-time bridge bonus so no employee receives less than $2,000-an $85,000 investment over the current plan-and suggested modernizing outdated permits, fees, and tax categories instead.
• Samantha Russell (20-year homeowner; LCPS employee): Urged council to restore $200,000 for the town bike path study. She argued the town is rewriting its zoning ordinance (public hearing April 16), residential traffic manual, construction standards, and floodplain guidance, making this the most efficient time to weave multimodal safety into those documents. She cited the Leesburg Elementary bike bus, which required a police escort for children to ride to school safely, called the Leesburg Bypass a significant physical barrier, and framed the study as a "proffer menu"-a legally defensible list of infrastructure needs for developer negotiations-and a prerequisite for the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program.
• Maureen Newton (resident since 1996): Asked council to be "fiscally responsible with my money. I am not the bank of Leesburg." She cited a newspaper report that the town was considering a 20% increase in town taxes and said "the residents of Leesburg will not accept this," citing rising costs for food, gas, and other necessities. (Council Member Kirkowski later said the 20% figure "was never gonna happen.")

Discussion Items

Public Hearing - 2026 Tax Rate and Fees. Chris Hutland, management and budget analyst, presented the proposed rate of 17.74 cents per $100 of assessed value-no change from the current year. Each penny of the rate generates approximately $1.45 million; reducing the rate to the homeowner's equalized rate of 17.26 cents would require about $700,000 in expenditure reductions. The taxable portfolio is 68% residential ($9.9 billion) and 32% commercial ($4.7 billion). Existing residential assessments rose approximately 3%, non-residential assessments rose 15%, and new construction added 2.2%, for a total taxable portfolio increase of 8.6%. Housing stock is 50% single-family detached, 34% townhomes, and 16% condos; the average residential tax bill is $1,155, an increase of $33.44 per year (the transcript also states "$2.79 per year per month," presumably meaning $2.79 per month), ranging from $14.52 for the average condo to $44.99 for the average single-family detached home. Staff noted 72.6 cents of each tax dollar funds police, public works, capital projects, parks/recreation, and library services. Town Manager Dentler clarified the legally advertised rate was two cents higher to preserve council flexibility and that straw votes from the prior markup session had pointed to 17.69.

Budget Amendments. Council Member Nacy proposed, and straw votes confirmed support for: reinstating the 2% COLA for all employees; adding a one-time $1,000 lump-sum bonus (paid July 1) for employees earning under $100,000, with a work session next budget cycle to craft a different long-term approach; deferring the new police lieutenant start date to November 1, 2026 (saving about $52,200); adding $100,000 for the anticipated collective bargaining agreement (bringing total collective bargaining funding to $300,000); and reducing the labor relations attorney line by $56,000 ($50,000 from outside counsel plus $6,000 for equipment) as the town moves to a staff position. Staff said roughly 54% of the town's ~400 full-time employees earn under $100,000, making the bonus cost about $200,000 plus approximately $20,000 in FICA, to be paid from unassigned fund balance and utility reserves. Restoring the COLA alone moved the rate to 17.75; the full package kept it at 17.74.

Zero-Based Budgeting Commitment (Defeated). Vice Mayor Cimino-Johnson said he could not support the rate without a commitment to phase in zero-based budgeting-25% of departments reviewed each year-to identify efficiency before asking residents to pay more. He cited a $2.2 million structural budget gap, $8.4 million in unfunded requests, $2.66 million in capital needs, about $12 million to catch up on paving, another $3-6 million in stormwater needs, and said the town paid $5.9 million for the Rock Creek Farm property, which he argued was not worth that amount. (The transcript garbles his conditional statement-"...I will support this rate without that commitment..."-though context and his final "nay" indicate he would support the rate only with the commitment.) The Mayor noted a finance summit is planned after the budget, but the Vice Mayor requested an immediate vote; only three members (Cimino-Johnson, Wilt, Cummings) supported the proposal, so it failed for lack of four votes.

Fiscal Policy Amendment (Deferred). The resolution to amend the Town's Fiscal Policy was called with no presentation. Staff described the changes as largely editorial-consolidating ad hoc amendments previously made through budget ordinances, updating references from the director of financial and administrative services to the CFO, and updating Government Finance Officers Association award references. Council Member Nacy moved to table the item to a future work session with a brief presentation; council agreed 7-0.

Leesburg Movement Memorandum of Agreement. Staff presented two amendments to the agreement with the Leesburg Movement, the town's 501(c)(3) organization and part of the state's Main Street program: (1) specifying the town's advertising obligations-promoting Leesburg Movement events through the economic development website, town social media, and other communication channels, subject to the town communication policy and workload; and (2) changing the correspondence address from Town Hall (25 West Market Street) to the organization's physical office at 15 North King Street, second floor-space in the town's economic development department provided at no rent under the agreement. Council Member Nacy asked whether the town was taking on government activities for an organization that must remain independent for Main Street program eligibility; staff responded that such promotion is routine for the downtown business community and independence will be maintained.

Council and Staff Comments. Council Member Cummings thanked Council Member Nacy and staff for making his compensation-fairness proposal workable. Council Member Kirkowski said the COLA was never truly threatened, confirmed the flat tax rate, and reported on a disc golf demonstration at the former West Park Golf Club. Vice Mayor Cimino-Johnson requested a future work session on the bike path study, which council agreed to. Council Member Steinberg flagged that council has not agreed on a stormwater funding approach. Mayor Burke summarized recent community engagements (a meet-the-mayor event at IHOP, the National League of Cities lobbying day in DC, airport story time, Little League opening day, and a preschool "if I were mayor" book project whose authors requested more parks-and free pizza and ice cream) and said the budget reflects priorities of customer service, quality of life, fair wages, and preserving Leesburg's historic character. Town Manager Dentler said the town is in excellent financial shape with challenges ahead, called this his last budget, and reminded council of the joint meeting with the Planning Commission on the zoning ordinance rewrite on April 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Key Outcomes

• 2026 tax rate and fees ordinance adopted 6-1 (Vice Mayor Cimino-Johnson opposed). Motion by Council Member Steinberg, second by Council Member Kirkowski; keeps the real property tax rate at 17.74 cents per $100 of assessed value and amends the Appendix B fee schedule, as amended by the budget package.
• FY 2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program adopted 6-1 (Cimino-Johnson opposed).
• FY 2027 Budget adopted 5-2 (Wilt and Cimino-Johnson opposed). Includes the restored 2% COLA, the one-time $1,000 bonus for employees earning under $100,000, $300,000 total for collective bargaining, the staff labor relations attorney position, and the November 1 police lieutenant start date-all without a tax rate increase. Staff (Mr. Sparr) said an amended budget resolution reflecting the night's changes will be prepared for the record.
• Fiscal Policy amendment deferred 7-0 to a future work session with a presentation.
• Leesburg Movement MOA amendment adopted 7-0.
• Zero-based budgeting commitment rejected (3 of 7 votes-Cimino-Johnson, Wilt, Cummings).
• Next steps: Council agreed to schedule work session discussions on the $200,000 bike path study and the stormwater funding approach; the joint Planning Commission meeting on the zoning ordinance rewrite is set for April 2 at 7:00 p.m.