Voters in Lewes returned two incumbents to the city council, while a challenger from the city’s Planning Commission comes up short.
In Saturday’s municipal elections, voters had an opportunity to choose from three candidates for two seats on the council. Tim Ritzert, a council member since 2020, led the voting with 460 ballots cast, while Councilman Joseph Elder got 427 votes. Kevin Keane, the current Vice-Chair of the city’s Planning Commission, came in third with 392 votes. It will be Ritzert’s third term on the council and Elder’s second.
Both men have raised their profile on the council in recent months, with Ritzert heading a committee looking at ways to combat light pollution. Elder, for his part, convened a committee of residents and business owners to develop solutions for parking congestion in downtown Lewes.
When Ritzert and Elder are sworn in later this month, they will also earn a larger paycheck. Council members voted unanimously to double their salaries at a meeting on Monday. The resolution is a formal enactment for money approved in the budget earlier this year.
“This was discussed in the budget processes, and so this is not new information to anyone," said Mayor Amy Marasco.
With the salary increase in place, council members’ pay will double to $6,000 per year, while Marasco’s salary will also double to $8,000 annually. Marasco stressed that she would continue to keep her promise not to take a salary hike in the middle of her term.
The salary discussion was brief, but prompted another concern from Marasco - reimbursing council members for expenses they incur in the course of their work. She noted that her job involves giving a lot of talks and presentations to community groups which invite her to speak.
“We don't have a PR person, so I write these presentations, and I pay a designer at a very reduced rate to put them in a PowerPoint,” she explained. “I'm getting a little tired of funding my function.”
While reimbursement for council members is allowable under city code, Marasco said that there was no money appropriated in the budget to repay her and other council members for expenses. She pushed for the topic to be discussed in more detail during the council’s mid-year budget review later this year.
