n LOUDOUN
Pg. 4 | n LEESBURG
Pg. 8 | n EDUCATION
Pg. 10 | n OBITUARIES
Pg. 21 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
Pg. 26
50+ LIVING PAGES 15-17
VOL. 8, NO. 10
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Evictions Spike as Rent Protections Stall
School Board Takes Deeper Dive into $1.67B Budget Request
BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
Rapidly rising rents coupled with already-high costs of living are driving people out of their homes while governments take limited action— or none at all. The most recent report from global commercial real estate services firm Newmark indicated in the third quarter of 2022, Loudoun had seen effective rents in multifamily buildings going up 10% year-over-year. That was considered a slowdown— in the first quarter of 2022, the same report showed 14% growth. Meanwhile, special COVID-19 pandemic-related protections against evictions in Virginia expired on June 30. Federal ARPA and CARES Act money, some of which was directed toward housing costs, has stopped coming. Virginia’s Rent Relief Program, which disbursed more than $1 billion, stopped taking applications in May and ran out of money in October. Data collected by nonprofit law firm Legal Services of Northern Virginia shows evictions and eviction filings in Loudoun trended upwards in the latter half of 2022, from 10 filings and three evictions in March up to 84 filings and 61 evictions EVICTIONS continues on page 35
JANUARY 26, 2023
Alexis Gustin/Loudoun Now
LEA president Sandy Sullivan speaks during a rally in support of collective bargaining for school employees Tuesday night at the School Administration Building. The proposed school budget does not include the $3.5 million and 14 new employees that administrators say would be needed to launch the program.
BY ALEXIS GUSTIN agustin@loudounnow.com
After sitting through three budget work sessions since Acting Superintendent Daniel Smith introduced his $1.67 billion fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, the School Board is preparing to put its stamp on the spending request. Since the Jan. 10 presentation, the board has held budget briefings with
several departments, hearing the $901.2 million request from the Department of Instruction, a 4.1% increase over the current fiscal year; the $226.5 million request from the Department of Support Services, a 17% increase; the $63 million request from the Department of Digital Innovation, a 10% increase; and the $313.3 million request from the Department of Student Services, a 2.4% increase from the current budget.
Chief Financial Officer Sharon Willoughby said two-thirds of this year’s proposed $106.7 million increase over last year’s budget was driven by state initiatives, although the state provided less than half the funding for those initiatives. The biggest asks in the budget plan includes pay raises, increased benefits, and more full-time employees. The pay raise proposed by Smith included an annual step increase, a onetime 1% payment to those at the top of the pay scale, and salary increases for positions not on a salary scale totaling $23.8 million. Another $43.7 million was proposed for a cost-of-living adjustment for employees not on the teacher salary scale, and an adjustment to the teacher salary scale to provide a minimum 5% pay increase for all eligible full-time employees moving up a step on the scale. Last year, the division met the state’s requirement to provide the 5% average pay increase for employees. This year, Willoughby said, the division wants to do more. Willoughby said there is another $67.5 million in the budget to support step increases and scale adjustments for the 5% minimum pay increase, with the state funding 43.1% of it, leaving 56.9% of that cost to be funded by local tax revenue. Additionally, there is $5.4 million from SCHOOLS BUDGET continues on page 34
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