The Finance/Government Operations and Economic Development Committee of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors met on January 13, 2026, at 5th Floor, 1 Harrison Street, Leesburg. Chair Briskman presided. The committee adopted the consent agenda (4-0-1), discussed economic development, capital projects, tax rates, health commission reports, and FY2027 budget service levels. Supervisor Umstead was absent.
Maybe she's stepped away. Okay, great. Hi. We'll start in a few minutes. Okay, but if they get to the world, okay, I'm back. Good evening. I would like to call to order the January thirteenth, 2026, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee meeting. Excuse me. This meeting has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aids to telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to request one. Questions and comments are not timed. However, once a motion is on the table, committee members will have three minutes to ask questions and make comments for all items in the motions. Item four, metro rail financial update. Uh 2025, Metro Rail Financial Update. Uh I actually I I have a couple questions on that one. Yeah. So okay. So never mind. Thank you, sir. Uh motion made and seconded. Any comments, uh, Supervisor Laterno. Yeah, I just wanted to take a moment on item four, which is the Metro Financial Update and maybe a staff question, Mr. Hempster question. But also note um this is a significant item because we are talking about first of all, an excess of funds in the Metro tax districts, which is good. Um establishing or asking staff to begin the establishment of revenue stabilization funds for future needs, but we also contemplate using some of excess revenue to cover, I believe, subsidy costs in the future. So just from a question, um, does anything need to change with these districts in order to be able to use them for operating or capital subsidy for metro? Is there any action that has to be taken? You mean legal action to change the the governing parameters of the district? Uh no. Okay. So I remember, and you probably do too many years ago. There was some discussion about that when we were setting these up and whether we could eventually shift them to cover the operating capital subsidy or they only had to be used for construction. So the concept is that the larger district, which encompasses the two smaller districts, is that that will remain in play and be the primary district until all of the debt services paid off, and then we can use excess to also pay for the metro contributions. Once the debt is paid off, the intent as described by the board at the time was to remove the tax rate on the larger district and then just tax the smaller districts to pay for the whatever the operating subsidy is that remains after gas tax and other revenues are applied. So um, and that's a really good just reminder for everybody to hear, and also um for residents because we're gonna hear this debate and discussion in the General Assembly about funding for Metro and the fact that the additional need has been identified. The board endorsed that plan, but ultimately we do have a plan to cover increased costs that is not simply taking it out of the general fund and increasing the general tax rate on citizens. It's part of that overall strategy that was established way back in 2012 by the board to help cover costs of metro. And I think that's an important distinction that I guarantee that most residents don't actually really know. So we'll have we'll have to really communicate about that when we get closer into that. So just wanted to note that. Thank you, Mount Chair. Thank and thank you for the um clarification. Chair Randall, any comments on the consent agenda. None. Okay, thank you. Um I will just comment, thank you, colleagues, for um uh uh allowing me to put item 17 on the consent agenda, conservation easement assistance program exception. This is for the um uh Silver Ridge Drive property where we had the home explosion, which has now been turned into a uh memorial of sorts and a park, and it's a very sort of out-of-the-box type of property for the county to be putting in conservation easement. Um, and so this is an exception, and um hopefully the full board will also understand the importance of this particular property and making sure that we can assist as much as possible to maintain it the way that the community has put it together and the all the volunteers and all that.