Reid Seeks Move from City to County Level

After being elected twice to the Leesburg Town Council and serving five years, Ken Reid has applied for a promotion. He is challenging Leesburg District Supervisor Kelly Burk for her seat on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

If he wins, Reid would move from representing a city of 42,000 residents to a magisterial district of about 39,000. If he loses, he will complete his second term on the town council. Reid was re-elected to the council last year after winning in six of 11 precincts. Town Council members serve at large. 

While attending a luncheon meeting of the Loudoun Crime Commission at Belmont Country Club last week, Reid said he is running because so many of his constituents asked him to.

"I got one or two requests a week last fall," he said. 

His issues, he said, are pharmaceuticals -- Reid edits and publishes trade publications about the Food and Drug Administration -- and transportation. Once a paid proponent of bus rapid transit and express toll lanes instead of rail, Reid said Metro will come to Loudoun, but only if the mandatory project labor agreement is removed and costs are brought down, so Toll Road users are not bearing an undue burden. "It's going to happen," he said. "It's a fait accompli."

If elected, Reid said he will push for fiscal responsibility. 

"We need a Board of Supervisors that is not afraid to say “no” to wasteful and unnecessary spending," Reid says on his campaign website. "The current Board has not scrutinized spending very well, or else we would be spending more for economic development than animal control, $2.7 vs. $2.3 million annually."

Reid said he wants to transfer responsibility for real estate assessment to the Commissioner of the Revenue, and said, "This is the practice in most localities and is authorized by the Virginia Constitution. There are efficiencies that can be achieved as a result of this realignment."  

He favors a two-year budget cycle for the county, with targets set for what the tax rate will be in five years and what will be the ratio of tax revenue from residential and commercial assessments. 

On the council, Reid pushed to reduce the tax rate from 21.5 cents per $100 to 19.5 cents and wants it even lower --  17 cents. Town residents pay both county and town taxes.

Reid says he favors retraining residential development to make sure roads and schools are not overcrowded and under-funded. He opposed development of 700 new residences in Leesburg, he said, pointing to Burk's support for residential development at J.R.'s Festival Lakes between Ft. Evans and Edwards Ferry Roads, east of Leesburg. 

On the controversial water rates in Leesburg, Reid says, "I will work to ensure the Board of Supervisors stays out of water and sewer rate-setting decisions and opposes any efforts by the General Assembly to take away the town's authority to set rates."

Reid supports Leesburg Police as the lead agency for law enforcement in the town. As a Republican, he supports his party's nominee in the Sheriff's race. He acknowledges that one of his initiatives for the town failed -- Reid wanted an ice rink at Ida Lee Recreation Center, but gave it up after getting too much resistance, he said. 

The four "t-words" he cites for his platform for county supervisors are taxes, transportation, trade, and tackling crime. Read more about Reid's platform at www.kenreid.org.

* Correction: Ken Reid's position on Metro's Silver Line has been clarified.