Loudoun County Budget Public Hearing (Session III) – February 28, 2026
Loudoun County Budget Public Hearing (Session III) – February 28, 2026
This public hearing, held on February 28, 2026, was the final session for community input on the proposed FY2027 budget and tax rates. The Board of Supervisors heard from over 25 speakers on a range of topics, including traffic safety on Evergreen Mills Road, the expansion of School Resource Officers (SROs) into elementary schools, homelessness services, mental health investments, arts funding, and immigration enforcement cooperation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Evergreen Mills Road Safety Improvements – Multiple speakers (Michael Conarritis, Michelle O'Dell, Jeremy Del Piaz, Mark Witt, Chad Thompson) requested that the county address a five‑mile bottleneck on Evergreen Mills Road from Hoagland Road to Ryan Road. They highlighted the dangerous 55 mph speed limit, lack of a center turn lane, and the safety burden on Loudoun Country Day School (LCDS), which budgets $105,000–$115,000 annually for an off‑duty sheriff’s deputy at the Red Cedar intersection. Speakers urged a roundabout or traffic signal, and noted that planned developments will add 1,500–2,000 housing units along the corridor.
- School Resource Officers (SROs) in Elementary Schools – This was the dominant topic, with roughly equal numbers of speakers for and against the Sheriff’s proposal to fund SROs in all elementary schools at an estimated cost of $18 million over four years.
- Supporters (including Alicia Brand, Mike Clancy, Mark Witt? actually Witt spoke on road safety, but others: Jason Harding, Susan Cox, Gary Higgins, Richard Ryan) argued that SROs provide immediate protection, that response times from outside officers are too long, and that Virginia already has SROs in 29% of elementary schools. They cited 1,649 calls for SRO support from elementary schools in the prior school year (nine per day). Several speakers dismissed concerns about racial bias or ICE ties as irrelevant.
- Opponents (including Jasmine Tyler, Erica Daly, Corey Brunette, Meredith Way, Gail Pien, Melissa McAllister, Carla Miller, Heather Gottlieb, Lisa Potter, Max Matlin, Julia Casdorf, and an unnamed elementary school parent) argued that data shows SROs do not prevent school shootings, disproportionately discipline Black, Latino, disabled, and low‑income students, and that the $18 million would be better spent on counselors, housing vouchers, after‑school programs, or social workers. Several speakers also opposed the Sheriff’s 287(g) agreement with ICE, fearing that SROs could be used for immigration enforcement. One speaker called the proposal a coercion tactic to bypass the School Board.
- Homelessness Services – Nicole Acosta (Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties) and Valerie Pisierra (Loudoun Human Services Network) urged expanded capacity. Acosta noted that the point‑in‑time homeless count grew from 93 (2005) to 303 (2024), while bed counts have not kept pace. Pisierra reported Loudoun has only 0.32 permanent supportive housing beds per 10,000 residents, well below neighboring jurisdictions.
- Mental Health & School Funding – Lynn Davis (Algonkian district) criticized the county for failing to fund mental health services, arguing that 18 million could fund 100 counselors plus 82 social workers rather than SROs. A speaker from the Loudoun Arts Council, Betsy Lavino, urged the board to view the arts as infrastructure, citing pandemic‑era benefits.
- ICE Cooperation – Max Matlin and others called for transparency on names and charges of individuals transferred to ICE, and urged the board to cut funding to the adult detention center to force termination of the 287(g) agreement.
- Other – Several speakers supported the Sheriff’s SRO proposal but also raised concerns about response times and the need for a comprehensive approach.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken. The meeting was strictly for public input.
- Chair Randall acknowledged that the board will review all comments and include them in the Wednesday budget package.
- Chair Randall committed to visiting Loudoun Country Day School and the Evergreen Mills Road corridor to assess the traffic safety issues.
- The hearing adjourned with no further business. A quorum was present; Supervisor Caleb Kirsner was absent due to a family emergency.
Meeting Transcript
Well, good morning, supervisors, good morning, staff, and good morning, Loudoun. I'd like to call to order the February twenty-eighth, two thousand twenty-six, Loudoan County Borders Supervisors budget public hearing. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please please switch your hearing aid to the telecom mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to um sit uh request one. Would everyone please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. One, our colleague, uh, Caleb Kirsner, the little uh district supervisor has a slight family emergency going on, so he will not be here this morning. He did ask me to let everybody know that he will absolutely uh watch the video um and everyone speaking and take all of your comments into account around the butt any item that we're talking about, thank you. Any item that we're talking about on the budget. Uh, if we are still on the day is if we're still here if we're not finished by ten thirty, I will have to leave. I have to be in Lorton, Virginia at eleven forty-five. I don't know how long the drive to Lorton Virginia takes, but until it takes an hour. And so I have to leave at ten thirty and if if if there are still speakers at that time, Mr. Um Vice Chair Turner will take over at that time. Um, the public hearing is to allow members of the public to address the board on the proposed budget for fiscal year beginning July one, two thousand twenty-six and ending June thirtieth, two thousand twenty-seven. The FY twenty twenty-seven proposed budget and the proposed tax rate on real and personal property taxes for the year twenty twenty-six, beginning July, January one, twenty twenty-six and ending December thirty-first, twenty twenty-six. This is the final public hearing session for comment on the proposed budget. Any member of the public may address the board, but only at one session. Please sign up to speak at this public hearing. If you have not signed up, please do so now. I will ask that by the board's rules of order when you speak, um, you address your comments to the dais, so you address your comments to the board to me. Um if you'd like, um, and and please stay facing the board. Don't turn around and dress your comments to the audience. That is a um something that the board has asked for in our rules of order. Um if you are if you signed up to speak, you'll be allowed at two minutes to speak. If you're in the boardroom when your name is called, please come to the podium, state your name for the record. If you'd like to state the district that you are from, you may do that as well. The timer on the podium, we indicate your remaining time. When your time is expired, please yield the floor to the next speaker. Um when a member of the public is providing comment in the language other than English, we do provide time for the for the speaker and the interpreter. And so um each person will have two minutes. Um, the speaker and the interpreter if you're addressing us in a link in the language other than English. If you're providing your comments by phone and you cannot see the timer because you're at home, please set your own timer because if I stop you when you're at one minute and thirty seconds, it throws off your your flow, and I don't want to do that. But when you get to two minutes, I will stop you. So just have your own timer and time yourself if you do not mind. When taking public input okay, when taking public input, I will ask if there's anyone in the board membership to speak, then I will go to the moderator and ask that there are any speakers online. I think right now I do not think we have speaker. We don't have any remote speakers as of right now, is uh if I'm looking just correctly. But if we do, I will go to Emma and um and ask. Can you hear me? Wonderful. Um I think that might be everything. You should know that that during public hearing, the the board, the board does not normally respond to speakers. Um so you may ask questions and things like that. We'll write them down, we'll get back to you if we uh but normally there's not a back and forth um unless there's something said that is so egregiously wrong that I feel like I need to do to fix that in the moment. But otherwise, we'll just call your names. And so I will call your name three names in advance so that you know that you're next up to come. The first, and if I mispronounce your name, I do apologize in advance. Please um come up, pronounce your name correctly, and accept my apologies in advance.
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