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July 19, 2021 In In The News

Milford lowers school tax for fifth year in a row

From: Delaware Live

On Tuesday, July 5, Milford School District Board of Education voted to lower school taxes for the fifth year in a row. Chief Financial Officer Sara Croce presented the tax rate for review at a previous meeting, explaining the components that make up the school tax rate.

“There were no changes from the last presentation, and we feel this is rate is what we will need moving forward,” Croce said. “This year, we are proposing a rate of $1.6995 per hundred dollars of assessed value in Kent and $4.8028 per hundred in Sussex. Again, the rates are different for each county due to the way assessments are calculated in each county.”

Five years ago, the property tax rate for Milford School District was $3.5682 in Sussex County and $1.9077 in Kent County. In FY2016-17, however, the district was forced to increase the tuition tax significantly to cover the cost of children receiving special services. That same year, there was an operations referendum that also increased taxes slightly, raising it to $5.3913 in Sussex and $1.2626.

Since that year, the district has begun offering special services for children within the district in order to reduce the tuition cost to send them out of the district for the same services. They have expanded their Autism programs as well as others that will help them provide federally required services to children with special needs. Doing so helps reduce the tuition cost and has allowed them to slowly lower school taxes over the past five years.

The district has also paid down debt service for capital improvement referendums passed several years ago. As debt service is paid down, the tax rate for that portion of the school tax is also reduced. Read more: Milford lowers school tax for fifth year in a row – (delawarelive.com)

July 19, 2021 In In The News

Delaware Manufacturing Job Growth Opportunity

From: Charlie Copeland, Co-Director, Center for Analysis of Delaware’s Economy & Government Spending at Caesar Rodney Institute 

Delaware has suffered a 31% decline in high-paying manufacturing jobs over the last 18 years. With federal funds from Covid stimulus legislation and tweaks to the State’s site and business permitting process, Delaware could position itself for decades of manufacturing job growth.

The Situation today: Delaware, its counties, and several municipalities are set to receive an enormous amount of money from the Federal government’s pandemic-driven federal legislation. While one can argue whether these funds are necessary given the rapidly growing US economy, the money is coming.

 With this incoming cash, our local governments are now debating what to do with these funds. The proposals tend to reflect one end or the other of the adage, “Give someone a fish to eat today, or teach them to fish to eat for a lifetime.” But these proposals miss an important point… Are there even fish in the lake? In other words, are there high-paying skilled jobs in Delaware for our citizens? The answer to this question is increasingly “No.” Read more:https://www.caesarrodney.org/CRI-news/Delaware-Manufacturing-Job-Growth-Opportunity.htm

 

 

July 19, 2021 In In The News

Here’s list of $70 million in projects picked by legislators for their districts

From: Delaware Live The list of projects included in the Delaware General Assembly’s $70 million community redevelopment grants includes $2 million for a private school stadium, $1.6 million for the Delaware Agricultural Museum, and $1.35 million for the Nanticoke Indian Association.

Community redevelopment funds are one-time allocations that legislators earmark for nonprofits, schools, and community agencies in their districts.

The itemized list of recipients was not included in the Bond Bill when it was passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. John Carney.

Bond bill committee members offered assurances that the list would be made available to the public as soon as it was finished being collated by the Controller General’s office. It was posted Thursday on the General Assembly’s website.  Read more: https://delawarelive.com/heres-list-of-70-million-in-projects-picked-by-legislators-for-their-districts/

 

June 25, 2021 In In The News

Delaware’s 2022 operating budget clears House

From: Delaware Public Media

The 2022 budget is a $4.77 billion spending plan and more than 4.9% bigger than this year.

It passed in the House by a 38-1 vote with two not voting.

State Rep. Rich Collins (R-Millsboro) cast the lone ‘no’ vote while Mike Ramone (R-Pike Creek Valley) and Democrat John Kowalko (D-Newark South) were the two not voting.

Collins was the lone ‘no’ vote, arguing taxpayers should get some money back since the state has a huge surplus this year.

“We have raised taxes – the General Assembly – since 2009 quite a few times. We had several really tough years in there where we raised taxes when we needed revenue. Well, now we have the most historic revenue surplus that we’ve ever had, and we’re not giving any of it back to the taxpayers,” said Collins.

But Joint Finance Committee co-chair, State Rep. Bill Carson (D-Smyrna( says this budget has many items that will help Delawareans.

“$17.2 million to increase reimbursement for direct support professionals, $2.6 million for home-based nursing, $16 million for student medical health, $22 million in education opportunity funds, $10.2 million for the Redding Consortium, $4.3 million towards expansion of SEED and Inspire scholarships,” said Carson.

The House also unanimously passed one-time supplemental spending for FY 2022 that will appropriate just over $221 million for one-time funded projects like technology needs, a police body camera program, and salary supplements for state employees and pensions among many others. It also sets aside money to implement legalizing recreational marijuana should that bill pass.

Both bills still need Senate approval.