How will local leaders across Delaware respond to big budget gaps in wake of coronavirus?
From The News Journal
The effects of a coronavirus-driven economic crisis that is causing more than a half-billion-dollar hit to the state’s revenues will surely soon be felt in the pocketbooks of cities across Delaware, local officials said.
From lost parking revenue at Rehoboth Beach to utility payments that will never come from now-empty Newark college apartments, city, county and town leaders will face the possibility of cutting services or even the salaries of city workers.
Some, like New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, say now is the time to keep people employed and even hire more, whether that means taking on debt or draining rainy day funds.
But others, like Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, aren’t ready to make that jump.
Already in Wilmington, officials are combing through their proposed budgets for the fiscal year that starts July, looking to cut expenses as the likelihood of layoffs looms.
Among the first items on the chopping block are uniforms and equipment for next year’s Fire Department recruits, a chunk of the Police Department’s 20 planned new security cameras, college scholarships awarded by the Mayor’s Office and the grants of a few thousand dollars that it gives annually to sustain community nonprofits, officials said during ongoing budget hearings before the City Council this month.
“There’s a possibility that it’s going to impact everybody,” Purzycki said.