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Purcellville finances

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strong, with both the water and wastewater systems operating at deficits. The Water Fund lost $601,000 while the Wastewater system operations cost $981,000 more than its revenues. Both losses were offset by availability fees from new development, but that revenue source is expected to dry up without the council approving more development.

Last year, the council did not implement the recommendations of its financial advisors and utility consultants to raise user rates. This year, Mekarski said he would propose a 3% increase in water rates and 5% increase in sewer charges.

Mayor Kwasi Fraser said the proposed budget also should include placeholders for projects that could provide additional Utility Fund revenues and offset the pressure to increase rates. The town recently inked a cell tower lease, but revenue from that project isn’t expected until next year.

While Mekarski is scheduled to present his recommended budget in early March, the council will have to set its tax rate starting in February as it transitions to having the county Treasurer’s Office bill and collect taxes for the town. The council is expected to adopt the budget at its April 26 meeting. n

Vote

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person or online during the public comment section of the meeting to urge supervisors to adopt an ordinance allowing for strong unions.

Juvenile Detention Center employee Jomar Untalan said last year he was preparing for a change to 12-hour shifts—adjusting his two kids’ schedules, arranging transportation, paying deposits—only to see that schedule change delayed.

“I need meaningful collective bargaining because the county must recognize employees with dangerous working conditions, provide resources and staff needed to stay safe, and uphold accountability when things go wrong,” Untalan said. “For front line employees like me, it’s a matter of life and death. County employees are tired of being ignored and forgotten.”

“At times, my daughter’s school system has been forced to go virtual due to staffing shortages. Her aftercare center closed permanently. Due to county policy, I had to choose to leave my autistic daughter home alone or take leave to be with her,” said Veronica Martinez, who works in the county Department of Family Services. “COVID has changed our lives and impacted our jobs. The county has struggled to keep up. My experience highlights why we need the right to bargain over the full range of wages, benefits, and working conditions such as the impact of emergencies like COVID, paid leave, telework, and support with childcare.”

“All they want is to be treated with agency and dignity, and have the proper tools to do their job, and a union provides them the opportunity to not only share how things can be run, but also to protect themselves,” said Loudoun resident and IBEW Local 26 member Don Slaiman. “You know, without a union, you don’t have the right to face your accuser. You don’t have a right to stand up. The basis of unionism is really the same as the First Amendment.”

While there are still details to be hammered out in the ordinance, the county board’s Democratic majority appears committed to passing an ordinance following months of lengthy negotiations with labor organizers. At least some of those members have indicated they favor the unions’ recommendations for the ordinance.

“I am genuinely concerned. Over the last several years, I have heard from Child Protective Services members, SEIU members, that they are overburdened. I’ve heard it from mental health workers,” said Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd (D-Leesburg). “But I cannot think of a more important job for county government than protecting children. And if we are not able to protect children, I don’t know why we’re sitting up here.”

The three Republican members of the board have warned against it, and told their Democratic colleagues they would come to regret unionization. Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles) also said with fewer units could come less power for some employees, using the library system as an example.

“If they are now an eligible group, every single library employee could vote against joining the union, and they’d still be part of the union, unless we had a separate bargaining unit for those library employees who work in different facilities and have different jobs functions,” Letourneau said.

Supervisors voted 6-3 to send the ordinance to their meeting Dec. 7 for a vote. n