Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
LEESBURG, VA — (WMAL) The town of Leesburg, Virginia might be taking its first steps toward becoming a city.
Legislation introduced by Virginia Delegate Randy Minchew will allow towns with more than 40,000 residents to apply for city status.
Virginia currently has a ban on the formation of new cities, but Minchew’s legislation would allow for an exception to the rule.
Leesburg is the only town with more than 40,000 residents and the legislation was introduced on their request.
“The Leesburg Town Council said they’d like to consider this,” Minchew told WMAL. “But right now it doesn’t make sense fo us to start doing our homework on whether or not this is a good deal for our taxpayers.”
Even if Leesburg decided to become a city, the process would take at least two years.
The town and county governments would have to agree on a tax plan that would benefit both sides for the process to move forward.
“If you are in the town of Leesburg, a citizen will pay taxes both to the town and to the county,” Minchew said. “If you’re a city, like Fairfax City is, you only pay taxes to the city government because you’re independent of the county.”
Minchew said that the biggest challenge would be the redistricting of schools in Leesburg.
Currently the schools are run by Loudoun County Public Schools, which means that many non-Leesburg residents attend them.
Although the city application process is long and complex, Minchew’s legislation is an early step towards Leesburg’s possible status as a new city in Virginia.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Karen Nutini, Wikimedia Commons )
