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Council weighs county grant to waive 2025 vehicle license fee; decision due Feb. 11
Summary
Staff presented options to set the vehicle license fee to $0 for 2025 and participate in a county grant program (estimated maximum ~$181,000 for Purcellville) or to maintain the $25 fee; councilors debated one-year relief versus long-term revenue impacts and potential state-level changes to vehicle taxes.
Town finance staff briefed the council on a Loudoun County grant program that requires participating towns to set the vehicle license fee to $0 for 2025 in exchange for county reimbursement. Finance Director Connie Lamar said the maximum grant for Purcellville would be roughly $181,000. The council must adopt rates by Feb. 11 to meet the county/Town schedule and the statutory Feb. 28 deadline.
Council discussion focused on whether one-year relief is prudent given the town's other budgetary changes and the difficulty of reinstating the fee in a later year. Councilmember Net expressed a preference to set the fee to $0 for 2025 and accept the county grant as short-term relief; Councilmember Rayner warned the council would face a revenue gap in subsequent years and that reinstating a tax is politically difficult. Staff outlined operational impacts: participation requires adopting a $0 rate (not an ordinance elimination) and continuing to supply annual rate notices to the county if the town reinstates the fee later. The council scheduled a formal decision for the Feb. 11 meeting, ahead of the county deadline.
