Strasburg council approves budget, Juneteenth holiday while denying storage facility permit
Below is an article that appeared in the Northern Virginia Daily on June 18th, 2021.
STRASBURG — The Strasburg Town Council approved its 2021-2022 budget and made Juneteenth a holiday at its meeting Tuesday night, but denied a special permit for a storage facility at the business and industrial park.
The $17 million spending plan for next year includes a $3 flat increase for sewer bills and also funds an assistant town manager position.
Vice Mayor Ken Cherrix and council members John Massoud, Tarayln Nicholson and Dane Hooser voted against the plan. Council members Paul Weaver, Emily Reynolds, Doreen Ricard and Christie Monahan voted for it. Mayor Brandy Boies broke the tie to approve the budget.
Boies cited the work that had already gone into the budget as the one of the reasons for her approval. The budget must be approved by June 30.
Massoud and Nicholson opposed the budget because of the sewer bill increase saying that residents shouldn't have to pay for past mistakes with the fund, which is operating at about a $500,000 deficit. The fees were proposed as a way to make up those losses.
Cherrix questioned the need for the assistant town manager position at this time while there's a search for a new town manager underway. Hooser, who had proposed an increase in the cigarette tax to generate revenue to increase staff pay, said the plan didn’t do enough for the budget crisis the town is in.
Trash pickup will increase from $11.95 to $12.13 and extra trash cart rental will increase by 2 cents from $1, as per contractual agreements, but no other tax or fee increases are included with the proposal.
Friday, June 18 will be added as a holiday for town workers this year only in honor of Juneteeth, which celebrates June 19 as the day slaves were freed in the United States. Because the day falls on a Saturday this year the holiday will be observed on Friday. Reynolds proposed the holiday as the country undergoes a monumental shift toward racial justice.
Cherrix, Massoud, Ricard and Nicholson voted against adding the holiday and Weaver, Monhanho and Hooser joined Reynolds in supporting it. Once again Boies broke the tie by voting to add the holiday.
Boies said making Juneteenth a holiday allows people time to reflect on what the day is honoring. Since the holiday is for this year only, Boies encouraged discussion about including it in future years.
After Wednesday’s vote, Cherrix said the council might as well add Sept. 22, Aug. 1, April 6 and Nov. 1 as holidays because “they are all the same days that mean the same thing.”
For the storage facility, Massoud made the motion to deny it and Monahan seconded it. Hooser, Reynolds and Ricard also voted to deny.
Cherrix, Nicholson and Weaver voted against the denial.
Monahan, in reading a prepared statement, stated that the roughly $3,900 in tax revenue that will be generated each year and the four to six jobs the business would bring in was not enough to justify the $1.5 million planned extension of Borden Mowery Drive, which provides access to the park.
Cherrix, while in a back in forth discussion with Massoud, said it's unknown if there's any potential business that could go in the approximately 12-acre property and the size of the land, with about 3 to 4 acres of easements, is not set up to bring in anything that will generate the desired revenue.
Massoud acknowledged the site's deficiencies but wanted to see if there was something that could bring in more jobs.
Contact Charles Paullin at cpaullin@nvdaily.com
