Residents are breathing a sigh of relief after voting to keep the town’s police force.
The town of Purcellville, located in Loudoun County, Virginia, has found itself around $50 million in the red following the construction of a major wastewater treatment facility, and the council sought to tighten the town’s budget by disbanding the local police department and relying on the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.
The initial decision to dismantle the police department led to recall petitions to remove several council members and Vice Mayor Ben Nett from office. Council members who proposed eradicating the force said they wanted to do so to reduce water bills for the town’s 9,000 residents, according to Fox News.
However, the council reversed course and voted to fund the police force at $3.2 million for 2026 at a town council meeting Tuesday where outraged residents and other officials voiced their concerns about the proposal.
Residents who spoke during public comments said they didn’t want to get rid of the police department to save on water bills and criticized the council’s vote two weeks ago without having public comment on that particular motion, according to Fox 5 DC.
“The four of you snuck agenda items in at the end of the meeting and took away my lawful right to comment on them,” one resident said, ABC7 reports.
