Purcellville budget meeting postponed amid town turmoil

Another protest was held in Purcellville Tuesday night after a town council meeting on the budget was suddenly postponed. FOX 5's Julie Donaldson has the details.

PURCELLVILLE, Va. - Another protest was held in Purcellville Tuesday night after a town council meeting on the budget was suddenly postponed.

"The mayor has made it clear today with his decision to cancel this meeting at the last minute that politics is more important than Purcellville because one of his political allies can’t vote. Can’t discuss the budget," resident Caleb Stought said.

The backstory:

This really goes back to their April 8 meeting when the council first voted 4-2, with one member absent, to defund the Purcellville Police Department. That decision was met with much resistance from residents who showed up at a meeting last week demanding a recall.

While it took two separate votes, eventually a decision to fund the police through 2026 was approved with the two council members who originally voted to defund it – Carole Luke and Susan Khalil – changing their vote on the condition the council hold an emergency meeting to discuss balancing the budget.

"Tonight was just to be out there in good faith, discussed as a group the concerns with the budget and super come to some sort of agreement," councilmember Kevin Wright said.

Part of the problem here lies with Vice Mayor Ben Nett. He is currently under criminal investigation for voting to eliminate the police department within a week of being fired from it.

The Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney prohibited Nett from participating in any more votes or discussion concerning the town's budget as it includes funding for the police department.

That led Mayor Chris Bertaut to postpone the meeting until May 6. He told FOX 5 this will allow time to explore options for the entire town council – including the vice mayor – to participate.

What they're saying:

"It appears based on how they’re doing it that they just don’t want to have a vote without their one particular," resident Brian Morgan said.

But councilmember Erin Raynor is not sure they’re going to get an approved budget by the deadline.

"I really don’t because we have to have by state law by June 30 and approved budget or else we go into a government shutdown and if that happens, the state could honestly come in and take over for us and that is not good. That is not a good look," Raynor said.

What's next:

The budget currently has a $3 million deficit with the issue being their utility fund carrying a large amount of debt but Tuesday’s meeting was supposed to come up with solutions other than cutting the police department.

We'll see if there are any resolutions come May 6.

The Brief