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Majority town council still peddling rate hike justification with “political insert” BY VALERIE CURY
At the June 11 Purcellville Town Council meeting, comments were made during the council comments portion regarding the political insert in the town utility bill. Also, council voted 3-2, with Mayor Stan Milan, Vice GOVERNMENT Mayor Erin Rayner, and Council Member Kevin Wright to demolish the Pullen house at a cost of $49,260. Council Members Chris Bertaut and Carol Luke voted against. Previously supporting the decision to demolish the Pullen house but not present for the vote were Council Members Mary Jane Williams and Caleb Stought. Council Member Chris Bertaut said, like all citizens, he received the “political insert masquerading as justification for
the recently adopted [utility] rate hikes.” He said the insert was done without his knowledge or permission. He asked that his name and Council Member Carol Luke’s name be removed from the insert and a revised one be issued. Bertaut said the insert lacks in “substantiated data and follows the ongoing narrative championed by Mayor Stan Milan, Vice Mayor Erin Rayner, and Council Members Caleb Stought, Mary Jane Williams and Kevin Wright. “They claim that previous town councils could have drastically reduced our debt had they not pursued the restructurings and refinance of 2013, 2017 and 2021.” This restructuring was, however, done on the advice of “our financial experts at Davenport and Company,”
said Bertaut. He pointed out that the majority omits “what their alternative strategy would have been and what the cost would have been to the residents of Purcellville.” Explaining further, Bertaut said the “insert falsely implies that the 2017 and 2021 restructurings pushed our debt repayment out by ten years. In reality it was the 2013 restructuring that extended the debt repayment by four years, while the 2017 and 2021 actions extended it by a total of six years. “Moreover, the 2017 restructuring led to the retirement of about $2 million in water utility debt through a process called debt defeasance—a significant fact our management team seems to have overlooked in the face of unsubstantiated
claims by our current leadership.” Bertaut pointed out that the 2020 refinance achieved a lower interest rate without extending the debt payoff period. “Yet this fact goes unmentioned,” he said. Going over some of the specific numbers from the utility restructurings and refinance, Bertaut pointed out that the “2020 refinance resulted in $817,608 in CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 »
Community leaders search for solutions to increasing miles of power lines BY REED CARVER
Dominion has announced four new transmission line projects in Loudoun. Speakers representing GOVERNMENT major associations took turns presenting information on the lines on June 11, in a Piedmont Environmental Council meeting at Heritage High School.
The Loudoun Transmission Alliance and the Lansdowne Conservancy argued for the Aspen to Golden 500 kilovolt lines to be buried, rather than strung at an average height of 160 feet along Rt. 7. The Conservancy is an umbrella of the homeowners association that represents the residents of Lansdowne. It protects CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 »