The New Castle County Council narrowly passed a 2019 budget for Fiscal Year 2019 on Tuesday night.
The bill came after a sometimes contentious process that was reflected by the margin of victory reported by Delaware Public Media.
The budget calls for a tax credit that will limit the property tax increase to 7.5 percent in fiscal 2019.
“I thank County Council for their collaboration in providing the revenue to fund valuable life-saving and quality of life services. We set out six months ago to balance a structural deficit and the passing of this compromise budget puts county finances on a sustainable path to deliver high-quality services for years to come,” stated County Executive Matthew Meyer. “We now look to state legislators to restore state funding cuts to paramedics, which will enable us to fully staff our life-saving paramedic service for the first time in years.”
The budget will phase in a 15 percent increase in property taxes, along with a three percent increase in the lodging tax that is in addition to the current eight percent tax. Enabling legislation was passed by the General Assembly.
Meyer had proposed a 15 percent upfront increase and a 12 percent increase in sewage fees.
There was no initial estimate on the impact on taxpayers, although based on previous numbers, the average homeowner could see an increase of around $30 on property taxes and a comparable amount on sewage fees.
The county is burdened by labor contracts that grant automatic annual pay increases for workers who join the county payroll that also force pay hikes for more experienced workers as well as rising pension and health costs.
The county also has an aging population and a tax credit for moderate and low-income senior citizens.
Meyer claimed the county had blown through previous budget surpluses under predecessor Tom Gordon and faces a structural budget deficit in need of a long-term solution.
The county has seen a modest construction boom but does get as big a boost from impact fees levied in faster-growing areas of the state.
