Dover City Council adopted its Fiscal Year 2025/2026 budget at the June 23 council meeting despite public pushback on utility rate increases.
City Council members considered delaying their vote on the $243.8 million budget, but the city’s controller-treasurer Patricia Marney advised against it.
“I do think we can come up with a way to implement a fund to assist our constituents, just like we talked about earlier, what we did during COVID time,” Marney said. “But I do feel that that would take some time to put together.”
She said the city has contractual obligations to employees that could be at risk if the budget was not passed. On top of that, Marney said delaying electric rate increases could have a negative impact on the city’s bond rating.
City Council approved the budget 7-2. Council members Roy Sudler and Brian Lewis voted against.
Lewis said there’s always a way to trim the fat.
“The problem that I'm having is my constituents in the second district are having affordability issues,” Lewis said. “To some it may be a small increase, but to others, it's a big increase. $50 means not getting their medication or not paying [...] for food, something essential.”
Lewis said the people don’t want to see utility rate increases, so he didn’t vote in favor of the budget.
Council member Andre Boggerty concurred with Marney.
“I completely agree with the bittersweet decision that we have to make if we don't put anything in,” Anderson said. “It's difficult to spend, it's difficult to run our city… Trust me, my electric bill was extremely high, and probably will be high because I have the benefit of working from home. So I have to stay cool. So, it's what it is.”
The average consumer can expect to see an increase of about $4 water and about $21 for electric per month, according to Marney.
City manager Dave Hugg called the increases in water and wastewater relatively modest. He said the electric increases are based on a 2023 rate study that showed electric revenues could be in jeopardy without an increase.
“Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people think that we sit in the back room and make up the budget and don't pay any attention to anything that's going on in the city or elsewhere,” Hugg said. “And I can tell you that's about as far from the truth as anything you would want to consider. But I also would remind everybody that fundamentally, we're a business.”
Dover does not currently have a fund to assist residents with the rate increases, but several council members voiced their support in creating one that could look like a program the city set up during the COVID pandemic.
