2025 Loudoun County Board of Supervisors budget public hearing.

This room has a hearing loop.

If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing age to telecoil mode if you need a headset.

We have those available as well.

Please see the clerk to request one.

This public hearing is to allow members of the public to address the board on the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027, which is the FY27 proposed budget.

And the proposed tax rates on real and personal property for tax year 2026 beginning January 1st, 2026 and ending December 31st, 2026.

There are three sessions for comment on the proposed budget.

Any members of the public may address the board at only one session.

Members of the public wishing to speak at this public hearing and have not already done so.

Please sign up with the clerk to my left.

All members of the public who have signed up to speak will be allotted up to two minutes.

If you are in the boardroom, we ask when your name is called, please come to the podium and state your name for the record.

The timer on the podium will indicate your remaining time.

When your time has expired, please yield the floor to the next speaker.

Per the board's rules of order, when a member of the public is providing comment in a language other than English and chooses to use an interpreter, the member of the public and the interpreter will each have up to two minutes to address the board.

If you are providing your comments via phone, I ask that you use a stopwatch to track your time.

When taking public input, I will first ask if there is anyone in the board room wishing to speak, and then I will go to the moderator, Andy Torres, and ask if there are any speakers online.

Please note that there is a slight delay between the broadcast and the boardroom.

Although not all board members are able to attend, as you can see, the board members have assured their colleagues that they will review the video recordings of the budget public hearings and listen to the public comments on the budget.

With that, we will get started.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you all.

Our first speaker is Tanya Adkins, followed by Guy Tessier, followed by Isaac Pachico.

Good evening and thank you, Board of Supervisors.

Good evening.

My name is Dr.

Tanya Atkins.

I serve as the CEO of Health Works for Northern Virginia, the Federally Qualified Health Center providing medical, dental, and behavioral health care to over 9,000 Loudoun County residents.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of being in Richmond, meeting with some legislators to discuss funding with the CEOs of the 31 fairly qualified health centers in Virginia.

When asked how many centers are supported by their local jurisdictions, I was one of three centers who raised their hand in support.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for the financial support you priv provide to ensure that the most loud and vulnerable Loudoun residents get the quality health care they deserve.

I'm extremely grateful.

I'm speaking tonight, though, as the vice chair of the Loudon Human Services Neckburg because I want to share the impact that the nonprofit organizations represented by LHSN have on our patients.

Without the multitude of services that our Loudoun County nonprofits provide, our patients would be ill-equipped to seek medical care.

Food, shelter, and transportation are all barriers to receiving health care.

And the interconnectedness of this network is an amazing resource for which this county should be very proud.

I appreciate the financial support that you provide to the nonprofit community to make this possible.

I want to highlight one of the greatest challenges we face in providing health care to our patients, homelessness or near homelessness.

While the number of unhoused in Loudoun County is fewer than other localities, no one should go without shelter in a county as well resourced as Loudoun.

The numbers begin to increase when you consider those who are near homeless.

These are the people who couch surf daily, weekly or monthly, often with their entire family to remain sheltered.

It is these patients who have the lowest medical compliance because every day they are forced to decide whether to buy food or medicine, and food always wins.

I applaud your efforts to provide permanent affordable housing, but I ask that you consider closing any gaps for those who are in house or nearly on house.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Doctor.

Next up, Guy Tessier, followed by Isaac Pacheco, followed by Samantha Clark.

Good evening, Guy Tessier.

A few weeks ago, the LCSO presented alarming figures about the increase in elementary school shooting incidents to make the case for SROs there, but key context was left out.

One, if you Google is most of the increase in elementary school shootings over the last 10 years in cities or suburbs, the answer you get from the US GAO is the majority of school shootings, including those affecting elementary schools occur more often in urban, higher poverty, and racially diverse schools.

While mass shootings often occur in suburban or rural areas, everyday gun violence causing the increase in incidents is concentrated in city environments.

Two, if you Google what states are responsible for most of the increase in school shootings over the last 15 years, you get Georgia and Florida have experienced significant increases in school shooting exposure rates in recent years.

We usually hear that promoting safe storage of firearms only hurts law abiding citizens and not criminals.

But if most of the incremental elementary school shootings are being done by children, that implies that more children are becoming criminals.

How does that happen?

From a study by trauma surgeons at the University of Arizona that addresses how children gain access to firearms.

Quote, policymakers need to address these issues by focusing on improving knowledge of secure firearm storage amongst parents, educating the school community about potential risks, and engaging in programs and policy discussions concerning strategies to limit youth access to guns.

I could not find anything on the LCSO website that addresses safe storage when there are children present in a house with guns.

This seems like a glaring omission towards saving lives.

If the LCSO ignores the urging by trauma surgeons and won't advocate for secure storage, that can inform your decision to their funding request for SROs and elementary schools.