Volkswagen’s decision to move its American headquarters to Herndon raised concerns about the health of economic development operations in Loudoun County, which fell short in its attempt to woo the German automaker.

Volkswagen executives announced earlier this month they will move from Auburn Hills, Mich., to a 185,000-square-foot office park in Herndon, just off the Dulles Toll Road. Candidates trying to oust sitting members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors have seized on the move as a winning issue, saying Loudoun’s current leaders have not done enough to lure businesses to balance out the fast-growing community’s reliance on residential property taxes.

“If I was chairman, we’d have Volkswagen,” said Mike Firetti, the Republican nominee for chairman. “I’m going to sell Loudoun like you’ve never seen.”

But county supervisors charge such statements are off base and that the county simply had no building ready for Volkswagen’s timeline.

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“You have to understand why we lost the competition,” Chairman Scott York said. “They had to be here quickly, and we had no building to support them.”

“We didn’t lose Volkswagen because we didn’t want them to come,” Vice Chairman Bruce Tulloch added. “We didn’t overdevelop and have empty business buildings wasting on the market.”

The economic development concern was raised by Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Howard during a polite but often contentious Thursday morning debate in Ashburn.

“Expanding the commercial tax base has not been on our radar screen,” said Susan Buckley, a Democrat running for supervisor in the Sugarland Run District.

Tulloch’s independent challenger, Ken Mikeman, said the issue may be more nuanced than can easily be squeezed into a political debate, but added it spotlights growing concern.

“Clearly this is a result of the lack of good economic development strategies,” Mikeman said.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com