Town Manager Role
FY2026 Budget: Fraser's First Budget as Interim Town Manager
Presented March 19, 2025 — ten weeks after appointment, with utility rate reduction as the first inherited priority.
On March 19, 2025, Kwasi Fraser presented the FY2026 budget for the Town of Purcellville, Virginia — his first budget presentation as Interim Town Manager, delivered approximately ten weeks after his appointment on January 8, 2025. The FY2026 budget presentation occurred in a specific fiscal and operational context: Purcellville's utility rates had risen 16% to 18% under the prior management leadership, and Mayor Chris Bertaut had identified rate reduction as the first of three explicit priorities when appointing Fraser to the role.
The Context: What Fraser Inherited
When the Town Council appointed Fraser Interim Town Manager on January 8, 2025, Purcellville's utility rate situation represented a sharp contrast with the rate discipline he had maintained as mayor from 2014 to 2022. During his eight mayoral years, annual utility rate increases had been held to a 0%–5% range — consistently below the 9% increases recommended by outside consultants. Under the management leadership that followed his mayoral tenure, utility rates had risen by a cumulative 16% to 18%.
Mayor Bertaut's three stated priorities at the time of Fraser's appointment — documented in purcellvilleva.gov CivicAlerts AID=3219 — were: (1) reduce utility rates, (2) preserve small-town character, and (3) ensure fiscal stability. The FY2026 budget presentation was Fraser's first formal opportunity to address all three priorities through the town's budget process.
The Pre-Budget Operational Reviews
Between his January 8, 2025 appointment and the March 19, 2025 budget presentation, Fraser conducted individual operational reviews with each department head across all town departments. These reviews were a systematic assessment of the staffing, budget, operational status, and performance of every town function — the administrative due diligence required to present a budget responsibly as a new manager.
The operational review process reflects a project management approach consistent with Fraser's professional background: before proposing a budget, understand what each department actually does, what it costs, and where operational efficiencies or adjustments are possible.
FY2026 Budget Priorities
Utility Rate Path
The budget needed to establish a credible path toward reducing utility rates that had accumulated a 16%–18% increase under prior management. This required identifying the operational and capital funding sources that had driven rates higher and determining whether structural changes — through efficiency, debt management, or federal funding capture — could reduce the rate pressure without compromising service quality.
Fiscal Stability
The dual-AAA credit ratings (S&P Global and Fitch) maintained throughout Fraser's mayoral years were a foundational asset of Purcellville's fiscal position. The FY2026 budget needed to preserve the financial management discipline those ratings require.
Small-Town Character
Budget decisions that affect community programming, parks maintenance, police staffing, and public event support all bear on the small-town character priority — the recognition that a town's identity is expressed through how it allocates resources, not only through its land-use policies.
The Police Department Review
In May 2025, Fraser oversaw an Operational Review and Functional Assessment of the Purcellville Police Department — a formal evaluation of the department's structure, staffing, and operational effectiveness. The timing, following the March budget presentation, suggests that the police department review was connected to the broader operational assessment that informed the FY2026 budget, with the formal assessment report following the budget cycle.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Budget presented: FY2026
- Presentation date: March 19, 2025
- Context: Fraser's first budget as Interim Town Manager
- Appointment date: January 8, 2025 (10 weeks before budget presentation)
- Pre-budget action: individual operational reviews with each department head
- Priority 1 inherited from appointment: reduce utility rates (which had risen 16–18%)
- Priority 2: preserve small-town character
- Priority 3: ensure fiscal stability
- Post-budget action: Purcellville Police Department Operational Review and Functional Assessment, May 2025
