South Bethany Town Council approves its budget for Fiscal Year 2026.
The budget was developed under the final values from Sussex County property reassessments that were delivered in February. And while South Bethany hasn’t seen a property tax increase since 2009, things will change this year because of this first reassessment in about 50 years.
Under the new numbers, property values in South Bethany rose by more than 3 thousand percent, according to Mayor Edie Dondero. That prompted the town to decrease its tax rate from $1.30 per $100 of assessed value to about 5 cents per $100.
And Dondero said that will leave some South Bethany residents with larger tax bills -- and bring the town some additional revenue.
“Our other sources of revenue are beyond the town's control,” Dondero said. “Things like transfer tax when properties sell or rental income, a rental tax that we use on rental properties, which we feel like cannot possibly be pushed any higher at this point. So property taxes are the only source that we can manipulate, that we can control.”
About 31 percent of the bills will show either a decrease in property values or an increase of up to $100. About 61 percent will show an increase between $100 and $500.
The changes also mean the overall amount of taxes collected by the town will rise by 52 percent.
Dondero emphasized South Bethany is not producing a surplus.
“The town has identified upwards of $14 million in capital projects that are needed over the next 10 plus years,” Dondero said. “We have no means of funding those right now. So although we're increasing our revenue right now, that's not even making a dent – not even a drop – in what we're going to need to fund the capital improvements that are facing us.”
Those improvements are largely to address flooding in the town that is a result of sea level rise, which Dondero said is not getting any better in the coastal community.
