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City Council voted Monday night (June 24th) to approve the
FY 25 Budget.
To the Dover Community
Message from The Honorable David L. Anderson
Council President/Vice Mayor 4th District Councilman
Inflation has taken a serious toll on everyone and almost everything. Your city is no exception.
We are dedicated to keeping our charges in line, but we can no longer absorb the continuous increases in everything from diesel fuel to bullets. We have very modest increases that roughly track Inflation. We respect the struggles of our citizens and want to minimize our impact on those struggles.
The two new fees are because of enormous costs imposed upon us. The EMS has increased 4 fold. It serves the entire fire district so we added the $1.50 residential fee to the electric bill because it's the fairest and least costly per household method to pay for this critical service. The stormwater management fee is due to a 4.5 million dollar mandate to obtain needed permits. The quarterly fee is designed to be the lowest possible impact on residents and small businesses.
We apologize for the new fee, but the mandate came with no money to fund it. We hope it results in a cleaner environment for us and our children.
Yours in Service,
David Anderson
After many cut backs and tightening the belt we still have had to increase some fees, fines and a small property tax increase. Unlike some of our neighbors who are seeing their taxes doubled, we are implementing a 2 cent tax increase. (2 cents on every $100).
For a better understanding of the tax increase and to see the other fees please CLICK HERE. Changes in Fees. (The link will open a pdf for easier viewing)
A Stormwater Utility (pdf link) has been created that will address increasing the National Pollutant Discharge and Eliminations System (NPDES) compliance costs imposed by the federal and state government.
This will be based on total impervious surface area all on parcels regardless of use. This information is gathered from the State of Delaware. Residential calculations are then further correlated to zoning. The Stormwater Charge is a monthly charge that is based on Stormwater Utility Rates and will be billed quarterly. The first bill will be issued on October 1st. One ERU represents 1,700 ft2 of impervious surface. One ERU equals the base rate of $6.00.
Sanitation Enterprise Fund. (pdf link)
It is a type of governmental accounting to account for activities that provide goods or services to the public for a fee that is meant to make the entity self-sustaining. The intent is for the expenses of providing the service to the general public on a continuing basis be financed primarily through user charges. In doing so, this would lesson the burden on the General Fund.
What are the Sanitation Fund Rates based on?
Charges were modeled on a 5-year Projection to make sure revenues are adequate to pay for costs associated with the services provided. The goal of the Sanitation Enterprise Fund is to have long term financial stability for all the refuse removal provided by the City of Dover.
What is the Sanitation Fund Charge? Where will I see it?
The charge will remain on the utility bill as a monthly fee like in the past. The difference is now that the fee goes to the Sanitation Enterprise Fund instead of the General Fund. The fee will be $33, which was augmented to cover the 5-year projection for a self-sustaining fund. The change in monthly fee will begin on July 1st, 2024.
Basic Life Support Ambulance Fund BLS Fee
To cover increasing costs we are implementing a monthly service fee on your utility bill. This was laced on the utility bill in order to spread the costs equitably throughout the service area. (The service area extends outside of the City of Dover limits, it includes all of Dover Fire District) so everyone is impacted by this cost. Our costs went from $100,000 a year and suddenly jumped to over $1.4 million. After a a bid process we reduced it to $600,000. A fee will be charged of $1.50 a month per residential utility bill and $6.50 a month per commercial utility bill.
Property Tax Increase
a 2 cent (on $100 of assessed value) property tax was approved in the new budget.
Ex: Assessed value of your home 150,000 150,000/100 = 1500 x .02 = $30/annual increase which breaks down to $30/12 = $2.50 a month increase.
Click below to read a memo from our City Manager, David Hugg III.
A memo from the City Manager
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