n LOUDOUN
4 | n LEESBURG
VOL. 10, NO. 32
8 | n PUBLIC SAFETY
16 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
Community-Supported News. Free to all.
The ‘Brick Wall’ Holds
25
JUNE 19, 2025
A Welcome for Eliza
Split Purcellville Council Adopts $33.1M Budget BY HANNA PAMPALONI
hpampalonI@loudounnow.org
With two weeks remaining before the start of the fiscal year, the Purcellville Town Council on Tuesday adopted a $33.1M fiscal year 2026 budget – an 8% decrease from the draft proposal presented by Town Manager Kwasi Fraser in March. The budget is based on a real estate tax rate of 19.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, more than a cent below Fraser’s proposed rate to maintain the 20.5-cent rate. That change will reduce projected revenues by $279,000. Additional cuts include lowering the water and wastewater rates by 9% and 11% respectively, eliminating capital projects, freezing staff positions and moving one capital project from being contracted to being conducted in-house. The budget also includes town staff raises of 1% to 5% and fully funds the Police Department. The motion to adopt the budget passed 4-3, with councilmembers Erin Rayner, Kevin Wright and Caleb Stought opposed. Mayor Christopher Bertaut touted the reductions saying they keep critical services intact, address infrastructure needs and recognize the financial pressure facing residents. PURCELLVILLE BUDGET continues on page 20
Norman K. Styer/Loudoun Now
A coffin containing the exhumed remains of Eliza Monroe Hay rests at the Oatlands carriage house during a June 13 ceremony welcoming her return from Paris.
James Monroe’s Daughter Celebrated in Extraordinary Repatriation Effort BY NORMAN K. STYER nstyer@loudounnow.org
One hundred and eighty-five years after she died penniless in Paris, the remains of Eliza Monroe Hay are being reunited with those of her father, President James Monroe, and her family at a Richmond
cemetery. That remarkable journey, made possible by the dogged research of a retired Virginia school teacher, on Friday included a stop in Loudoun County and a visit to Oak Hill, the family home where Monroe retired from a life of public service after his second presidential term. After stepping away from the class-
room, Barbara VornDick began working as a historical interpreter at the Monroe family’s other longtime Virginia home, Highland, in Albemarle County. “I was born and raised in Virginia, but I did not learn about Monroe like I should ELIZA MONROE continues on page 34
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