Loudoun County hires new administrator

Loudoun County hired a new administrator Tuesday amid one of the county's most challenging budget crunches.

Tim Hemstreet, 41, most recently served in a variety of management positions for the City of Miami Beach, Fla. He was an assistant city manager and assistant executive director of the city's Redevelopment Agency since March 2005. The nine-member Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved Hemstreet's hiring Tuesday morning during its business meeting. He will start Dec. 7.

"I will do everything I am able to serve them, the residents, businesses and staff of Loudoun County in a highly professional, competent and ethical manner," Hemstreet said.

Hemstreet replaces Kirby M. Bowers, who retired in April after serving as the county's administrator for nearly 17 years. Hemstreet was selected from a pool of about 150 applicants after a six-month nationwide search, officials said.

In his new post, Hemstreet will lead Loudoun -- once one of the country's fastest-growing and wealthiest localities -- through one of its most difficult budget seasons. Next year's shortfall is projected at $72.6 million. County officials expect Loudoun's real property values to fall by about 5 percent, and anticipate an additional $84.2 million in expenses, including operating costs associated with three new schools for 2,850 students, and a new county jail.

"We are headed into very, very tight times," said board Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large). "The budget is absolutely going to be no fun this year, as we all know."

Supervisor Eugene A. Delgaudio (R-Sterling) asked Loudoun residents to pray for Hemstreet.

Bowers, who as county administrator oversaw Loudoun's explosive growth during a 17-year tenure, announced his resignation in January to take a job as executive director of the Triangle J Council of Governments, a group of municipal and county governments in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. Linda A. Neri has been acting as interim county administrator since Bowers's departure in April.

Hemstreet grew up in Northern Virginia and earned a bachelor's degree in political science and master's degree in public administration from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.