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n LEESBURG
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n EDUCATION
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n OBITUARIES
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n PUBLIC NOTICES
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APRIL 9, 2020
Board Adds Hiring Freeze, Pandemic Reserve to Budget BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Volunteers have been sent home with Loudoun Hunger Relief staff left to do all the heavy lifting at the Leesburg-based food pantry, where operations have transitioned to by-appointment, curbside pickup.
Supervisors Provide Emergency Assistance as COVID-19 Cases Climb BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
County supervisors on Tuesday authorized payments of $350,000 to help food pantries facing heavy demand and renters having trouble making their payments amid layoffs and business closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The action came following a week when the number of confirmed infections in the
county climbed from 26 to 209 and the local death toll rose to four. Among the new reported cases were front-line workers, including a fire-rescue member who had helped to transport an infected patient to the hospital and a school employee who had helped to distribute Chromebooks to students who will be finishing their school year at home. Federal and state leaders have warned residents to brace for a sharp increase in
COVID-19 cases over the next week or two, and the number of hospitalized patients has jumped significantly statewide in recent days. As of Monday, 63 Virginia residents had died as a result from the infection; each of the four Loudoun residents who died was in the 65 and older age group. ASSISTANCE continues on page 30
Loudoun supervisors on Tuesday adopted the $3 billion annual budget as they prepared it before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the county into lockdown. But they have also put $100 million in reserve and delayed new hiring as the county government works out what the pandemic’s effects will be on tax revenues. Supervisors and county staff members began writing the budget before the viral outbreak closed schools, brought many businesses to a halt and sent people in isolation in their homes. But with much uncertainty still surrounding the pandemic—including how long it will last, and how deep its impacts will be to the economy—county budget officers don’t yet have a handle on what its effects will be on government finances. Some revenues, notes a county report, will likely be somewhat stable. The county makes most of its money from real estate taxes, which stayed relatively stable during the Great Recession. But other revenues, such as sales and use taxes or fees at Parks and Recreation facilities, could drop precipitously. County staff members are building preliminary projections around the most pessimistic of models laid out by Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of the credit ratings firm. That model assumes 13 percent peak unemployment, with full employment not BUDGET continues on page 29
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