The City of Dover offers a variety of services and facilities to the public. Many of these services are dependent on fees, which are included as a source of revenue in the proposed budget each year. The schedule of fees includes building permits and inspection fees, cemetery fees, water and sewer rates, and Recreation Department fees.

During budget deliberations, the City Council reviews the proposed fee schedule for the upcoming fiscal year. The fee schedule is adjusted annually by the City Council, based on a number of factors, including inflation, studies, and equity.

The FY2023 Proposed Schedule of Fees can be viewed here or at the Budget Revealed online resource. Each page includes a list of services, the adopted fee from the current budget year, the proposed fee for fiscal year 2023, and the proposed change amount.

Among the many factors that contribute to a proposed budget are the priorities of the city's greatest resource, its customers. The city reaches out to its citizens by a variety of means, including numerous surveys, polls, public meetings, informational sessions, newsletters and easily accessible public information, to help gauge the community's priorities. This information plays an important role in helping shape the budget each year.

In recent years, the community has identified several areas as the highest priorities, including public safety, public schools, street maintenance and snow removal, public drinking water and sewer utilities, code enforcement and land-use regulation, municipal financial management, and communication with citizens.

In many of the surveys conducted by the city, more than 180 services, programs, and operations are identified.

These range from the most basic to some of the little known services. The services mentioned above are included in the first of four groups of priorities the city reviews when preparing the budget. The second group contains services and programs such as economic development, community oriented policing, traffic control and street lighting, fleet maintenance, the Ice Arena, and municipal buildings and parks. Examples of priorities identified in the third and fourth groups include municipal records archives, utility billing and tax assessment, cemetery operation and maintenance, the McConnell Center, the public pools, public meeting space, public transportation, hours of operation at the Recycling Center, and community events and programs.

Other factors contribute to priority based budgeting, including attributes and rating levels derived from case studies across the country, including whether a community is mandated to provide a program or service, whether the cost of a program or activity can be recovered, the change in demand for a service, and the reliance on municipal government for service.

As a result of these guidelines, it's important to point out that many of the lower and lowest ranking items are often mandated by the state or federal government, or are taken for granted, such as public welfare. It should also be noted that many related items rank in different groups. For example, the public schools rank in the first group, but school transportation ranks in the fourth group.

These priorities also emphasize the City of Dover consists of a diverse population with a variety of needs and priorities. Nonetheless, the needs and priorities are more than numbers. The City works to serve all of these needs, recognizing the true success of a budget is a positive impact on the entire community.

Want to know more? In addition to the online resource for this fiscal year's budget, check out Budget Revealed for more information about the budget process, including previous budgets, insight into the budget cycle, and additional multimedia content.