Dover City Council approved its budget draft for Fiscal Year 2026 during its May 21 special city council meeting.
Council approved the budget 8-1 with Council member David Anderson voting against.
The budget includes a potential change in electric rates and new and reclassified city staff positions.
“I think this is a great budget for the circumstances that we have,” Anderson said. “I do have a concern that the electric rates are and electric charges are overstated. That's my one concern with the budget currently.”
The budget could raise electric rates by 10 percent.
The budget also added two new positions in water and wastewater, which department director Jason Lyon said were needed. The new Geographic Information System specialist will help move the city move to a new system.
“There's requirements with our lead and copper rule to have information available through our GIS system to the public,” Lyon said. “And quite frankly, the amount of time that's needed for this, … the GIS team doesn't have enough time for that with everything else they do. So this would have dedicated personnel to make sure that we get our water and wastewater stuff managed and accurately updated in a timely manner.”
The other position is for a water service person due to the city’s backlog in service.
The budget reclassified several city employee positions to encourage retention, including nine water treatment plant operators.
Councilmembers did not approve the request for five additional firefighters. One council member tried to pass an amendment to the budget to fund one additional firefighter.
That motion failed 6-3. Councilmember Roy Sudler said he supports the addressing issue despite voting against.
“But I would like to see if there's other resources,” Sudler said. “And since we do have some time before the final budget is done, I think that's a fair and equitable way to approach it. If we can't find a resource, then I would be in favor of the tax increase that we would need to make sure that you have at least one.”
The $243.9 million budget plan is a 15% increase from the current year.
