Sussex County Council approves its Fiscal Year 2024 budget.
The $278.6 million budget is for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Sussex County public utility users will see a hike in various fees - paying $10 more annually for sewer, and $15 yearly on unmetered water.
But County Finance Director Gina Jennings says they are able to hold the line on property taxes.
"There's no tax increases. We are using some reserves or one-time expenses. Most of this is really the transfer tax reserves 10 million in the general fund, 15 million in capital. We are seeing fluctuations in our revenue a lot of it has to do with the real estate market. We are seeing a slowing. So building related revenue, realty transfer tax are both down 1.3 million. Where we're making that up by not increasing taxes we are seeing an increase in grant revenue from the state," said Jennings.
By law, the budget had to be approved before the end of this month.
Jennings says they were able to deal with somewhat volatile revenues.
"Sheriff revenue is going up, wills revenue has gone up, and then of course as improvements come on properties we also have more taxable assessments. And that has also helped with those deficits in the building related revenues," said Jennings.
The budget includes $66.1 million for wastewater infrastructure which includes new sewer mains, increased treatment capacity, and other upgrades.
There’s also $7.4 million to preserve open space and farmland as well as an increase of $300,000 to $4.1 million for the county’s contract with the state for supplemental state police troopers assigned to Sussex County.
The budget includes $3.4 million to pay for the continuing court-ordered reassessment of all properties, and five-point-seven million dollars for local fire companies and ambulance squads.
There’s also a $1.5 million contribution to the state for construction of an aquatic recreational facility at Trap Pond State Park. That comes from the county’s realty transfer tax reserve.
And $2 million is set aside for design, planning and construction of paramedic stations in the Dewey Beach, Lincoln, Millsboro, and Milton areas.
