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Match-A-Roo, Are you? Page 32 Middleburg’s Community Newspaper Volume 11 Issue 3
June 26, 2014 ~ July 24, 2014
www.mbecc.com
Upperville Horse Show
Page 14
Good News for Taxpayers
M
Daniel Morrow
iddleburg Town Council has cut $25,000 in projected consulting expenses for planning and zoning expenses and postponed plans to install a new $5,000 telephone system in the Town offices. Those and other cost-saving measures have allowed the Town Administrator to reduce the proposed increase in Middleburg’s real estate taxes from $0.02 per hundred dollars of valuation to $0.01. VDOT Funding
The Virginia Department of Transportation also helped. On June 18 it agreed to fully fund its 80% share of Middleburg’s long planned street light improvement program. (Middleburg’s streets are, in fact, owned by VDOT). As late as June 12 Town Administrator Martha Semmes was facing two widely different financial scenarios, one of which included VDOT only paying for half its share of the project. Six days later VDOT agreed to fund its full, $413,688, obligation. Middleburg’s 20% share will be partially met by funds from the Piedmont Community Foundation and the Middleburg Beautification Commission, totaling more than $63,000. The Town will now only be required to contribute $20,000 to fund the project. Bank Franchise Taxes Town Treasurer Debbie Wheeler reported that early estimates of revenues from the Town’s bank franchise tax had been underestimated. In February Wheeler had reported that the Town was projected to receive $166,000 from the Middleburg Bank. In fact, Wheeler reported, the Town actually received $238,000. Well 4 Emergency Meeting On June 16 Town Council met in a special “emergency” session to authorize the expenditure of funds for a long-term “fix” for a design problem at Middleburg’s original water treatment plant at Well 4, next to the American Legion on the Plains Road. The meeting was called at Council member Mark Snyder’s request, to get a jump on implementing the Town’s engineer’s recommendations for fixing the problem before the Town Administrator left for a well deserved two week vacation. Mayor Davis agreed and quickly called the special meeting Snyder, Council’s resident expert on Middleburg’s water treatment facilities told the Eccentric that Well Number 4’s “design deficiency” centered on the system’s back-flush process, a procedure designed to help make sure water lines are clean and clear. “The back-flush process using existing parts was clogging nozzles with minerals in the water,” Snyder continued, “primarily iron and manganese.” “The new engineering solution mitigates this issue,” Snyder said, “with an inline screening process.” Council also authorized the purchase of two new brine flow meters to replace two that were ruined in January 2013 when the Well 4 plant failed in a backflush process while Loudoun Water was away servicing a facility elsewhere in the county. Loudoun Water has agreed to purchase the new flow meters, but has not yet done so. Council expects them to reimburse the town for the destroyed meters. “This is good news,” Snyder said, “in that it puts us on track to get this water treatment plant back online. The treatContinued page 9
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