The Lewes Mayor and City Council approved a budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
The City of Lewes’ spending plan sits at nearly $14 million with nearly $10 million going to the general fund and about $3.5 million to capital projects.
Mayor Ted Becker notes the budget also includes $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, but that money has not yet been allocated.
The budget is significantly higher than a year ago and Deputy Mayor Andrew Williams says that’s something the city needs to think about in coming years
“So again I’ll say, growth comes at a cost. So we will think about this as we look in terms of how we want to grow Lewes. But I think as Ted (Mayor Becker) said, where we’re going to look at increasing - it won’t be taxed this time but it might be in the future.”
Property taxes in Lewes were last raised in 2010.
Becker says non-union employees will receive a 5% raise, to help with the rising costs of goods and services.
Councilman Khalil Saliba sees it as money well spent.
“Almost everybody in the industry has a worker shortage in this country right now," said Sailba. "And so I think it was incumbent upon us that we needed to make sure that our employees - who all do a terrific job - who really work hard from the police department, to the city manager, to all the personnel here - and we wanted to make sure they felt valued” .”
Becker adds that there are substantial capital projects planned this year, including improvements to Railroad Avenue, lighting for both beach parking lots and renovations to the police department, as well as $157,000 for the implementation of a new pilot transit system called the Lewes Line and $490,000 for improvements to Canalfront Park.
The budget also features a 50-cent rise in the city’s hourly parking fees downtown and at the beaches. The downtown parking rate will be $1.50 per hour. The beach rate will be $2.50 per hour.
The hike is expected to generate an added $287,000 in revenue.
