LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 1, No. 24 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ April 21 – 27, 2016 ]
LEESBURG KNOWS HOW TO DRAW A CROWD
Loudoun’s next big small town star ......28
Former supervisor pleads guilty to assault ...............................6
Can Tax District Carry Metro? BY RENSS GREENE
retaliation against people who did not support him in the election. “We can’t say for sure, but certainly the appearance is that it’s retaliation against political activity and activity within the Police Benevolent Association,” said PBA Executive Director Sean McGowan. The PBA is a union of law enforcement officers offering members legal and disciplinary representation and accidental death benefits. The Virginia chapter also lobbies in the General Assembly. McGowan said it has about 4,000 members across Virginia, and 349 members in the Loudoun sheriff ’s office. The sheriff ’s office staff changes were announced in a pair of memos circulated through the department. Loudoun Now
One question stood out at a recent forum on the Silver Line Metrorail extension in to Loudoun: How are we paying for this thing? Loudoun is on the hook for 4.8 percent of the cost of the rail extension, a share estimated to come out to $273 million. After a federal loan worth about $195 million, which the county expects to pay off by 2042, Loudoun still needs to come up with $78 million. In 2012, county supervisors created a Metrorail Service Tax District around the areas that will be served by the planned Metro stations to help pay for Loudoun’s share. After the initial construction costs are paid off, two smaller tax districts around the Rt. 606 and Rt. 702 stations will keep pulling in money to pay for Metro operations. During fiscal years 20142016, the Metrorail Service Tax District produced $20.4 million and is expected to bring in $8.2 million next year. Attorney Antonio Calabrese, of Cooley LLP, said that’s not enough. “We don’t have a lot of room, and we don’t have a lot of time, I would respectfully submit, to really change direction,” Calabrese said during the April 13 program sponsored by the Committee for Dulles, Dulles Corridor Rail Association, Dulles South Alliance and the Washington Airports Task Force. Calabrese was speaking at a meeting of government leaders,
SHERIFF OFFICE SHAKE UP >> 22
METRO FUNDING >> 22
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Last weekend’s ideal weather brought out an estimated 40,000 people to the 26th annual Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival. Organizers say the festival drew one of the largest crowds in the event’s history. See story and photos, Page 18.
SHERIFF’S OFFICE SHAKE UP Police Union Claims Transfers Were Politically Motivated BY RENSS GREENE
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massive reorganization within Sheriff Michael Chapman’s department has created what police advocates are calling an atmosphere of fear and retaliation in the state’s largest sheriff ’s office. Chapman, who was elected to a second term last November, said the changes resulted from a meeting with his seven-member executive team which includes his two lieutenant colonels and the heads of all five divisions in the department. “We had a retreat for a couple of days to kind of go over how we can better serve the community,” Chapman said. “How we can better align our staff to meet the agency to put the right people in the right place.” However, the executive director of the Po-
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Sheriff Michael Chapman speaks at a joint Leesburg-Loudoun policing committee April 6.
lice Benevolent Association, which declined to endorse Chapman’s re-election bid, said many of the personnel changes appear to be
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