In response to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29127187/how-can-i-get-ant-to-chomp-newlines-at-the-end-of-files/29130276?noredirect=1#comment46520981_29130276 - I realized I was solving a different problem than asked for so I created this gist rather than adding a new answer.
<loadproperties srcFile="VERSION">
<filterchain>
<fixcrlf/>
<trim/>
</filterchain>
</loadproperties>