The continuing effort to recover abandoned property, such as inactive bank accounts, coupled with reductions in state spending have added about $16 million to what the General Assembly has to spend in the coming fiscal year.

At its final meeting before the Assembly enacts the fiscal 2004 budget, the Delaware Economic & Financial Advisory Council will increase its estimate of revenue in the present year, which ends June 30, by $17.6 million over what was forecast a month ago. The spending estimate will be pegged $31.1 million lower. The council will report on June 16 that anticipated current revenue topped last year. While that growth was only six-tenths of one percent above fiscal 2002's $2,426 million, it was the first time since last summer that any growth has been anticipated. The governor and state financial officials maintain that, while that news is welcome, it does not bespeak any sort of repair to 'structural defects' in the state's revenue structure.

The state now expects to receive $235 million in abandoned property -- escheat revenue, to use the legal term --  from Delaware-chartered corporations, up from $156 million a year ago, the advisory panel is hesitant about how much to attribute as continuing, rather than one-time, income from that source in the coming year and beyond. On the revenue side, the council also is playing it conservatively when it comes to predicting when the long-awaited economic recovery will really get underway. It is looking for personal income tax, which came in higher than anticipated this year,  to increase by 3.8% in fiscal 2004. With corporation formation and new public stock offerings at record lows, they look for only 1% growth in franchise tax revenue.

A caveat to spending restraint exhibited by state agencies in light of the current fiscal crisis is the fact that much of the unspent money is being encumbered for spending in fiscal 2004 rather than being returned to the state coffers, the budget office reports.

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SCHOOLS TO BE SOLD: It is virtually certain that the Brandywine Board of Education this summer will officially declare the Channin and Old Mill Lane school buildings to be surplus. Superintendent Bruce Harter told a public hearing that there is no likelihood that they will be needed well into the foreseeable future, if ever. No one objected to disposal and Charles Landry, the only person who testified, told the board that the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred thinks it is a good idea. In a position paper he said was adopted by the council's executive committee, but not previously announced, it called for "strong measures to ensure that these properties are used to improve the quality of life for the surrounding communities."

State law requires that such unneeded property be offered first to any state agency that might want it and then to any other government agency -- in this case New Castle County. After those refusals, they are put out for bid by the general public. Unless special legislation is enacted, the school district would received 40% of the proceeds of any sale. Both of the school properties are zoned suburban residential. That allows detached houses or townhouses, a church, school or fire station or agricultural use. A government agency would be required to adhere to the same zoning requirements if it intended to develop either of the properties, according to a county official.

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Friends of the late Phil Cloutier got their first look at the statue of him that will be placed at the new Brandywine Hundred branch library in Talley-Day Park. The library and recreation area will be known as the Cloutier Complex.

What they saw at a reception on June 10 was a full-size clay sculpture which will be used to make a series of molds to be used in the process of casting the bronze statue. Sculptor Charles Parks said the

finished artwork should be ready before the end of summer. Never having met Cloutier, Parks worked from photographs and in consultation with Cathy Cloutier, his widow. "What I try to do is make a figure as [she] saw him," Parks said. In effect, the sculpture is what she would have produced were she the sculptor. The $75,000 sculpture was finance by private subscription, including a donation from New Castle County government, according to Joseph Mitchell, president of the Phil

Sculptor Charles Parks and the clay prototype of the statue of Phil Cloutier. Cathy Cloutier, now a state senator, stands beside an earlier model during an unveiling reception held in Parks's Wilmington studio.

Cloutier Memorial Foundation.

It is an image of Cloutier seated in a relaxed mode upon a rock reading a book. He is wearing a sweater and open-collar shirt. Cloutier was president of County Council and a state legislator. Before that, he was active in civic affairs, mostly with the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred. Promoting construction of a state-of-the-art library was one of his strongest interests, in both his public and private capacities. Rather than employ classic or heroic poses, present-day sculpture is meant to capture the determining qualities of an individual as he or she really was, Parks said. The Cloutier statue, he and others at the reception agreed, does that in both pose and expression.

"Everything I've heard about him tells me that he was  a straight-shooter and that's how I tried to show him," the sculptor said.

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SEWER ENDORSEMENT PUT OFF:  County Council tabled for two weeks a resolution committing itself to a sanitary sewer system to serve the area of the county south of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Some unresolved issues "may take a little while, maybe months, to grapple with," Councilman Robert Weiner, who sponsored the resolution, said. But, he added, "sentiment is loud and clear" that the $100 million project is needed as a measure for environmental reasons and "sound land-use planning." Council has actually approved fiscal year 2004 capital financing and would have had to take specific action to rescind that. Although not specifically required, the resolution is intended to convey a sense-of-Council on the issue.

In a memo to Council, Sherry Freebery, the county's chief administrative officer, said residents throughout the county can expect hefty increases in sewer rates beginning in 2006 and continuing annually for four or five years after that. The initial increase ranges from 15% in the southern sewers are not built, to 18% if the project is scaled back to a core area and 20% if the entire project is undertaken. Weiner's resolution was not specific on whether it favors a whole or scaled-back system. He agreed at Council's session on June 10 to table it at the request of Councilwoman Patty Powell who said her constituents in the affected area need time to comment on it. With three co-sponsors, a majority of Council, approval appears certain.

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ON SECOND THOUGHT ... : Council, by a 4-3 vote, decided to go back to its outside auditor of the past 12 years to check the county government's books this year. K.P.M.G., a Philadelphia firm, got the nod over Ernst & Young, which had been recommended by an advisory panel. Councilwoman Karen Venezky cited a published report that Ernst & Young faced possible suspension by the Securities and Exchange Commission from seeking new clients among publicly traded corporations. If that happens, she claimed, it could jeopardize the county's superior status among securities rating firms and raise a public perception of potential conflicts of interest.

County auditor Robert Hicks, who reports to Council, strongly defended the selection of Ernst & Young at the June 10 Council session. "The S.E.C. is attempting to apply post-Enron standards to what a firm was doing pre-Enron," he said. "In the '90s, the standard said [auditing] firms could provide consulting services. The S.E.C. has changed its mind, but so has Ernst & Young." Ernst & Young has sold off its consulting unit. Moreover, he added, if being the object of an investigation was a disqualifying factor, "we would be unable to hire any auditing firm right now [and] many people in this building would not be coming to work tomorrow."

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SO THAT'S WHERE THEY WENT:

If DelDOT, or anybody else, is wondering what happens to those orange cones that walk away from work area along the roads, they might check out the vicinity of Ninth and Du Pont Streets in Wilmington. They come in handy when it's time to reserve  'private' curbside parking spaces during the Italian ethnic festival. Many now carry a label with the address to which the cones followed their new owners home.

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SCHOOL TAX EXPECTED TO STAY STEADY: The Brandywine School District administration is likely to recommend in July that the tax rate be increased by just three-tenths of one cent for each $100 of assessed property value. A 1.3¢ increase in the operating tax rate and 1¢ in the minor capital rate would be almost offset by a 2¢ cut in the tuition tax. The total rate contained in a draft of a preliminary budget is $1.1775. Spending in the year beginning July 1 is pegged at $98 million, down from $98.4 in the current year. But chief financial officer David Blowman cautioned that there can be "a big difference between a preliminary budget and the final one" because of uncertainty about the levels of state spending.

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HOUSE PASSES WATER-SUPPLY LAW: The state House of Representatives on June 5 unanimously approved landmarklegislation designed to assure northern New Castle County sufficient water to avoid imposition of stringent controls in the event of another drought like the one in 2002. The measure, which now goes to the Senate, where approval is certain, will require public and municipal utilities to annual certify that they have an adequate supply to meet anticipated normal demand or contractual agreements to acquire enough water. They also must adopt, by 2005, a rate structure under which the cost of a unit of water goes up as the total amount of water consumed by a residential customer increases.

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THERE'S A PRICE TO PAY: The Division of Parks & Recreation was happy to receive free dirt from

(* Delaforum previously reported, incorrectly, that the fill dirt was coming from the bank's site on Governor Printz Boulevard north of Wilmington.)

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STATE MAY RUN ANOTHER CITY PARK: The parks division and Wilmington officials are discussing how Valley Garden Park, off Campbell Road adjacent to Hoopes Reservoir will be operated after recently acquired state parkland abutting Valley Garden's south side is ready for public access in the summer of 2004, according to Ron Vickers, chief of land preservation. Purchased for $4.8 million from Andrew and Patricia Hobbs and their adult children, the 62 acres extending to Hillside Road are intended for passive recreation. Owned by the city, Valley Garden is a relatively little known peaceful and scenic venue. The state operates three other Wilmington parks.

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COUNCIL ASKED TO OPPOSE 'PATRIOT ACT' EXTENSION: Green Party of Delaware will ask City Council to formally oppose continuation of the federal law enacted after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks to loosen restraints in pursuing and prosecuting terrorists. If it does so, Wilmington will join many other local jurisdictions supporting politically liberal opposing to the law which critics claim violates several constitutional and civil rights. Green Party said the law was passed without adequate consideration in the emotional heat of the September 11 aftermath. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the law not only must not be let to expire, but some of its controversial provisions should be strengthened.

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A sign posted on the door of the chamber in the Louis Redding Building where County and City Councils meet instructs folks to turn off cellular telephones and beepers before entering. That's all well and good, but the sign is on the inside of the door and not obvious until you're leaving.

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Although still hoping for a last-minute reprieve, County Council began the process of preparing for expansion from seven to 13 members by establishing a timetable for the necessary redistricting.

"In the event the General Assembly doesn't act ... before June 30, we will have a redistricting commission by early July," Council president Christopher Coons said. State Senator Karen Peterson intends to force a vote in Dover on a bill to repeal the law mandating expansion, but political observers believe its passage is unlikely. Except for declaring that the present six districts each be divided in half, it does not spell out a redistricting process, but Coons said it has been decided to follow the process used following decennial census. Each present Council members will appoint a representative to sit on the commission. The president, who is elected at large, appoints the chairman.

That will require one of Council's five Democrats to take a proverbial hit for the team. The law which applied to the last redistricting specifies that no more than four of the seven members of the commission can be of the same political party. Assuming the two Republicans will name kindred souls, one of the others has to appoint a Republican or someone not registered with either major-party affiliation. Last time, it was Coons who did so. Coons said the commission will meet in public and post results of its deliberations on the county government's Web site. Council before the end of the year will approve boundary lines so that members for the new districts can be elected in 2004. Present members' terms extend to 2006. (CLICK HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)

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LANDMARK DEVELOPMENT ENDORSED: A plan to construct a community of 24 single-family houses on large lots on the former Du Pont-Ross estate on Montchanin Road east of Buck Road received a warm reception at a Planning Board hearing. Lawyer Lisa Goodman said the 75 acre tract will retain much of its "chateau country feeling" The existing mansion, built in 1930, two carriage houses and other out buildings will be preserved.  About 43% of the land will be retained as open space. Buck Road Development, of which Charles Owensby is the principal partner, "will try to recreate the natural progression of a village which might have grown up around the estate," Goodman said. The community will be called Applecross.

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PERMIT PROTESTED: Charging that the Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control stacked the deck at a public hearing, Common Cause of Delaware and some allied environmental groups have protested the decision to grant Sunoco a Coastal Zone Act permit to erect a sulfur-recovery unit at its Marcus Hook Refinery. Maryanne McGonegal, Common Cause's secretary, said that questions about the project were limited and that company representatives were unable to provide answers to several of the technical ones that were permitted. The permit is now in abeyance until the protest is resolves. The oil company apparently is moving ahead with the project to the extent of obtaining a prefabricated unit.

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THE WAY IT WAS:
This card was postmarked in 1907 -- probably in the building it depicts. The Wilmington Post Office stood on Ninth Street between Orange and Shipley. It was moved to a new building built during the Depression at 11th & Market. Part of the shell of that building forms the base of the Wilmington Trust Co. headquarters. The former site is now the Wilmington Parking Authority's flagship Midtown Parking Center.
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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