BIG WEEK IN SPORTS: Fauquier boys and girls win region track; basketball, wrestling, football news. PAGES 25, 26, 27, 31 February 15, 2023
Our 206th year | Vol. 206, No. 7 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2021
Town council wrestles with data center conditions
David Jeck, superintendent of Fauquier schools, presented his budget Monday night.
Morning work session results in no changes to noise requirements By Peter Cary
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
The Warrenton Town Council wrestled with various parts of Amazon’s application to build a data center on Blackwell Road during a work session the morning of Feb. 14 but did not change any of the conditions the town staff had previously worked out with Amazon Web Services. The conditions are, in effect, promises that AWS will do certain things if the special use permit is approved. Still, questions from several council members brought forth new and even surprising information from Amazon. For instance, Jay Reinke, an AWS data center development official, revealed for the first time that there would have to be some blasting on site to build the data center building. Councilman David McGuire (at large) appeared surprised and annoyed to be learning this for the first time since the application was submitted in April 2022. “If they are going to blast, we need to know about that,” he said. Reinke also told the council, in response to questioning, that it would take one year to con-
Lincoln Walker splits wood for Fauquier’s Wood Ministry, which has delivered the equivalent of 301 truckloads of free firewood since Sept. 24, 2022, to 45 families who can’t afford to buy firewood to heat their homes. The group meets every Saturday at 650 Alwington, Blvd., Warrenton. Wood deliveries are usually only during the cold winter months, but wood processing (cutting, splitting, stacking, etc.) is a year-round project. FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ ROBIN EARL
2024 proposed school budget calls for 5% raise for teachers At the Warrenton Town Council’s Tuesday morning work session, Amazon provided an updated version of what the proposed data center could look like.
By Colleen LaMay
Fauquier Time Staff Writer
struct the building’s shell and seven more years for it to be filled with equipment and fully operational. Because the tax revenue the town will realize is based on the equipment installed in the data center, that could have a significant effect on revenue and when it could be expected. Without providing more specifics, Amazon officials said it’s likely tax revenue would average $900,000 annually for five years.
Fauquier County schools Superintendent David Jeck on Monday night recommended the school board approve a “needs-based” budget of $163.5 million for the 2024 fiscal year. He proposed a 5% raise for all school staff. “The average teacher salary in Virginia is more than $6,700 below the national average,” Jeck told school board members at their regular February meeting. “The state is chipping away at that, which is good news.”
See DATA CENTER, page 6
See BUDGET, page 4
Pandemic-era SNAP and Medicaid benefits ending By Robin Earl and Colleen LaMay
Fauquier Times Staff Writers
Several thousand Fauquier County residents this month will lose some of the federal SNAP benefits they have been receiving to help pay for groceries, likely creating a surge in demand for assistance from food banks and other community resources. See MEDICAID, page 6
See fauquier.com Wednesday, Feb. 15 for coverage of Tuesday night’s Amazon data center public hearing.
It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com