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Supervisors Set To Fully Fund School Budget
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t seems all of those blue T-shirts and “Fully Fund Our Schools” politicalcampaign-style signs weren’t employed in vain. A final vote isn’t expected until April 1, but Loudoun County supervisors agreed Monday night on a real estate tax rate and local education funding for the next fiscal year, as well as on a priority list for capital projects. In a straw vote, the Board of Supervisors decided, 6-3, to set the tax rate at $1.135 per $100 of assessed value and to provide enough local revenue in FY16 to entirely fund the School Board’s adopted $982.1 million operating budget, which should delight education supporters who wore those
T-shirts and held those signs. The supervisors’ moves, if formally approved next month, would mean giving the school system the exact amount of local funding it requested, an accomplishment that hasn’t happened in more than a decade, while holding the line on real estate taxes. The current tax rate is $1.155 per $100 of valuation. Land values have risen in Loudoun and the proposed $1.135 tax rate is expected to result in little or no increase in property owners tax bills, on average. Being able to enact a so-called “equalized” rate and fully fund the schools amounts to a “Holy Grail” of sorts in local government, said Supervisor Shawn M. Williams (R-Broad Run). “I’m very, very excited about
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Members of the Loudoun Education Association, including Joey Mathews and Jose Marantes, knocked on doors Sunday to rally support for more school funding. Their pleas were heeded by the Board of Supervisors in a straw vote Monday.
Williams Resigns Supervisors’ Vice Chairman Post
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cannot remain silent, condone or excuse his past conduct,” said Plowman, a Republican who is friends with King. In Monday’s email to the other members of the Board of Supervisors, Williams noted that, although he would step down from the vice chairman post, he planned to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends this year. “I still have much to do in the next 8 months, and I would like to see that through,” he wrote. The supervisors decide among themselves each January who will serve as vice chairman. It was not immediately clear who would be picked
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oudoun Supervisor Shawn M. Williams has resigned as vice chairman of the county board. Williams (R-Broad Run) emailed his eight colleagues Monday, informing them of his decision, which comes in the wake of recent scrutiny of his past. The supervisor was seeking the GOP nomination for county chairman, a job that’s opening as incumbent Scott K. York (R-At Large) is not running for re-election.
domestic violence from Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney James Plowman on Saturday and further rumblings that Williams should step down, though the supervisor said after a county budget meeting Monday night that the calls for his resignation actually had been few. In his statement this past weekend, Plowman said his office has focused on assisting domesticviolence victims, holding offenders accountable, creating a meaningful deterrent and seeking justice for all involved in the criminal process. “While I acknowledge Supervisor Williams has capably and effectively served the citizens of the Broad Run community during his term, I
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But Williams dropped out of the Republican contest with Leesburg lawyer Charles King on Feb. 23 after admitting to a history of drunken-driving and domestic disputes. Some said the corporate lawyer and Marine veteran should resign his supervisor job because of those past incidents. Then came a report last week that Williams was arrested in Ocean City, MD, nine years ago in connection with an attack on his then-girlfriend. He was charged with one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault, but both charges were dismissed. That news prompted a statement about
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