Costs associated with the February snowstorm and slower-than-expected attrition among state employees has caused an increase in state spending which outpaced a modest gain in revenue.

As a result, the Delaware Economic &  Financial Advisory Council is expected to revise its forecasts for the present fiscal year upward from what it predicted a month ago on both sides of the ledger. The panel now expects spending from the General Fund to total $2,504.4 million with revenues netting $2,371.5 million. Those estimates, which are likely to be made official when the full panel meets on Apr. 21, would be up 1.3% and 1.0%, respectively, from March projections. The crucial revenue estimate for fiscal 2004 probably will be raised by $14 million, or 0.6% from where it stood in March. That $2,335.6 million estimate governs what the General Assembly can authorize in the budget bill now pending.

While the revenue increase is not great, it does continue a gradual improvement in the state's fiscal health which appears to have begun in January. But estimators form the public and private sectors caution that the economy is still iffy and has yet to demonstrate the effects of the war in Iraq. The continuing effort to collect escheat funds due the state from abandoned property, which was credited last autumn for easing somewhat the budget crisis, was responsible for most of the increase in the revenue projection with higher return from the corporate income tax also contributing. Still inconclusive, forecasters say,  is how much the smoking ban will affect the state's take from slot machine gambling..

Coping with the snow impacted spending in terms of overtime pay and the overall colder-than-usual winter boosted energy costs. Still pending are more than 1,000 claims for damage to private property by snowplows -- principally to rural-type mailboxes and driveways.

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Head of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority said that agency is working to solve the problem of odors emanating from the Cherry Island landfill but has no choice but to expand the dump.

N.V. Vasuki said everyone in New Castle County generates 3.3 lbs. of waste a day and there is no other place to put it. State law bans incinerators, recycling is ineffective and trucking it out of the state is unacceptable, he told the Council of Civic Associations of Brandywine Hundred on Apr. 10. Since operations began at what formerly was marshland in 1985, "17 milliuon tons [of garbage and trash] has been properly landfilled" without doing harm to the environment," he said. Michael Apgar, Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control project officer, backed him up, saying that Cherry Island is a good example of a well-managed disposal area. "There are good reasons to have it where it is," he said.

A group of environmentalists and residents of southeastern Brandywine Hundred weren't buying that. Steve Tindall, acting president of the Cragmere Civic Association, said the dump not only is regularly spreading noxious odors over a wide area but its planned expansion of the pile from a height of 110 feet to 260 feet can only make the problem worse. "We have a throw-away society and, from all over the county, they're throwing it our way." Others at the meeting accused the authority of lying to the public and, in effect, sneaking the expansion through with virtually no public notice. Vasuki acknowledged the odor problem and said, "We're doing our best to stop it."

The authority is seeking commitments from private residences to pay $6 a month for curbside pickup of recycable material or $9 to include lawn waste. Vasuki said such a program will be launched if there is sufficient response for the self-financed agency to justify it economically.

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YES, IT REALLY WAS THAT BAD: Snowfall this winter was officially measured at 41 inches, the most since 1996, according to Secretary of Transportation Nathan Hayward. As a result, Delaware Department of Transportation is pegging storm-related -- mostly snow-related -- expenses this fiscal year at $9.5 million, compared to $2.1 million last year. It expects to recover some of that from the federal government. Meanwhile, he told Brandywine Council, the state government has decided to allocate $300,000 to $400,000 beyond what its formula calls for to reimburse civic associations and maintenance corporations some of their costs for snow removal.

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THE WAY IT WAS:
Market Street looking north from Eighth was a bustling street in the 1930s. Today it is a pedestrian mall, but the city has plans to reopen it to traffic and curbside parking.
This is another in a series of 'then and now' views of Wilmington. It draws on the extensive collection of local picture post cards accumulated by Terry Craig. Current views of the same scenes are Delaforum digital photos. See previous views in this series.

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Seven umbrella civic associations have applied to share in the first round of New Castle County's $250,000 community planning grant program.

Planner Mary Grace Fariello, who is coordinating the program said that all the proposed projects have merit. None of the organizations specified how much they would like to receive. James Smith, assistant general manager of the Department of Land Use, said the applications will be reviewed and a recommendation for allotting the money will be made, probably in about a month. He said not necessarily the entire amount will be distributed. The proposed budget for fiscal 2004, which is now before County Council, provides for continuing the program, which County Executive Tom Gordon said is intended "to get the county to start developing as a metropolitan area."

Fox Point Association proposed four projects for financing, the most extensive of which is to develop building standards for properties along Philadelphia Pike between Shellpot and  Silverside Road. Claymont Community Coalition wants money to continue planning for its planned Renaissance, including a plan for redeveloping the Brookview apartment complex. Centreville Civic Association intends to produce a marketing strategy for its business section. Greater Hockessin Area Development Association hope to finance professional support for that community's village-planning initiative. Other applicants are Pike Creek Valley Civic League, Bear Glasgow Council of Civic Associations and Milltown Limestone Civic Alliance.

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RENTAL LAW BEING READIED: County Council president Christopher Coons said a broadly representative committee is "closing in on an ordinance" to establish a rental code for unincorporated areas of the county. He said, however, that he does not intend to rush completion of the two-year drafting process before a workable consensus is reached. There are still a few points to be tweaked. He also said that he envisions enforcement of the law, if enacted, "will require only s modest increase" in the present code-enforcement staff. "We will target it (enforcement) on properties where there is a real problem," he said. The cost of the program has been cited as a determining factor in whether it should be authorized.

A draft ordinance now being circulated would establish three levels of frequency for inspections. Most properties would be selected randomly no more than once every two years. Those against which valid complaints are lodged would be looked at more often. As Delaforum has previously reported, the ordinance would require owners of all rental properties, no matter their type or how large the are, to register and provide information on ownership and designating a local contact. Owners would be required to distribute a list of tenants' rights every time occupancy of a unit changes. Fines would be levied in amounts that would increase in relation to the number of offenses. Read previous story.

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W.C. FIELDS WOULD HAVE A FIELD DAY:

... to find out  that DelDOT expects it to be not just on Sundays but every day until the end of November.

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