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Brandywine School District shaved a ha'penny
from its all-time-high property tax rate for the coming fiscal year,
reducing it to $1.8165 for each $100 of assessed value from $1.8215 this
year.
Although the move
by the school board at its meeting on June 28 will save the owner of a
'typical' home just $3.75, board president Debra Heffernan said, "I am
sure our community is happy. It's especially welcome during these tough
economic times." The district defines the 'typical' residential property
as one assessed at $75,000. The tax on such a property this year was
$1,366.13. The cut was in the minor capital fund; all other components
of the tax rate remain unchanged. Chief financial officer David Blowman
told the board that the minor adjustment was "perfectly justified."
School tax is billed and collected, either directly or through mortgage
holders, along with significantly lower New Castle County property tax.
It is due by Sept. 30.
Blowman said that
apparent elimination by the General Assembly of the previously proposed
shift of a portion of the cost of bus transportation of students from
state to local taxpayers averted a tax increase. Since the state budget
has not yet been enacted, the board has tentatively scheduled a special
meeting to revise the rate "should something out of the blue" hit. Blowman added that, with the completion of bond financing for the third
and final phase of the district's long-term building renovation program,
the debt service component "is as high as it is going to get" -- 22.8˘,
compared to 31˘ projected at the time of the 2005 capital referendum --
and "should start dropping off" with the fiscal 2012 rate. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
♦ ♦ ♦
Unable to sell
previously authorized bonds to help
finance sewers in Darley Green, the developer and county government are
turning to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in hopes of obtaining some
rural development financing.
Although Councilman
John Cartier acknowledged that the site of the Claymont project "hasn't
seen a cow or a crop on it in decades," Council approved his resolution
authorizing County Executive Chris Coons to file an application for a
low-interest loan in an unspecified amount. Like the earlier idea, which
ran afoul of poor conditions in the bond market, incremental tax
financing imposed on property owners would be used to repay the 30-year
loan, which is expected to carry a net interest rate as low as 2%.
Darley Green could qualify for the rural infrastructure loan program,
county bond counsel Tim Fry said, as a 'town' with fewer than 10,000
residents. The money can be used to pay for solid waste disposal, which
includes sanitary sewers, and storm drainage.
Fry said what could
be considered an end run around the depressed bond market is likely to
be successful because private-investment "bond buyers are fussier and
more demanding" than the federal government when it comes to deciding
where to put their money. Moreover, he added, the agricultural
department is under pressure to "get as much infrastructure financing
out there as it can" as a form of economic stimulus. In another matter
at its meeting on June 22, Council unanimously enacted a measure
allowing changes in Darley Green design guidelines with approval of the
Claymont Design Review Advisory Committee and Department of Land Use
without recourse to County Council unless the changes are controversial.
Contrary to the impression given by the text of the ordinance and a
resultant Delaforum article, the Darley Green developer -- not county
government -- will provide $300,000 to subsidize down payment assistance
to qualified home buyers. It was explained that the money will be
funneled through the county's 'homes for heroes' program because Federal
Housing Administration rules prohibit a seller from providing such help.
♦ ♦ ♦
SURCHARGE
APPROVED: County Council unanimously approved a quarter of
1% surcharge on fees for all building
permits to establish a fund to help support volunteer fire companies.
The vote at its June 22 session came after Councilman David Tackett
argued that a broader public safety financing arrangement "spread over
all property owners" would be more equitable. William Tansey said the
ordinance "hits the segment of the economy (residential construction)
that can least afford it." Both councilmen, however, voted in favor the
measure. Council president Paul Clark noted that expected revenue will
be relatively limited. The fire companies "would rather have a steak
dinner, but will settle for a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich because
they're hungry," he quipped. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
♦ ♦ ♦
WASTE SITE ARRANGEMENT: Northern county
residents with yard waste to get rid of apparently won't be left high
and dry this summer. According to state Representative Tom Kovach, the
Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control has cut a deal
with Holland Mulch to accept the material without charge during the
interim between closing of the present site off Cauffiel Parkway on June
27 and when the new site on Du Pont Co. property at Edgemoor and Hay
Roads opens. The adjacent commercial firm will operate the new site,
which Kovach said should be ready by the time autumn leaves fall. The
department, which has been close mouthed about what's happening, is
conducting environmental tests at the new site, he told the Claymont
Coalition on June 17. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
♦ ♦ ♦
George Lossé,
a principal founder of the movement to revitalize Claymont, will
relinquish the presidency of the Claymont Community Coalition, the
'umbrella' civic association he has led for 16 years.
Lossé said his personal battle with
cancer will restrict the extent of his future involvement even as the
apparent early success of the Darley Green redevelopment project
indicates that the movement is on its way to achieving its original
goals. At a meeting of the association on June 17, Lossé appointed a
nominating committee to produce a slate of officer candidates for an
election to be held in
 |
|
George Lossé (left)
presides at the June 17 meeting of the Claymont Community
Coalition while Babak Gogolab takes notes. |
August. Meanwhile, vice president Babak
Gogolab will take the helm which Lossé has held, mostly by acclamation,
during a series of two-year terms. County Councilman John Cartier paid
tribute at the meeting to Lossé for his effective involvement not only
in Claymont but throughout the county.
Lossé returned in 1990 from deployment
with the Delaware National Guard during the first Iraq war to find
Claymont Terrace without a civic association and the broader community
challenged by state government's disposal of what is now Woodshaven-Kruse
Park. With Joe Tilley, Dawn Lamb, Frank Kolling, Janet Dalton, Lossé and
his wife, Nora, started what would morph into the Claymont Renaissance.
Tilley was the coalition's first president. They obtained from then
County Executive Tom Gordon a $25,000 grant as seed money and enlisted
the support of Councilman Bob Weiner. Amid considerable skepticism,
their organization wended its way through several subsequent issues
culminating in obtaining a developer for the blighted Brookside
apartments complex.
♦ ♦ ♦
ADS COMING:
County government is about to step gingerly into the
advertising world in an effort to
bolster, albeit slightly, its fiscal situation.
Communications director Angie
Basiouny told County Council's finance committee on June 8 that
the administration will provide space on several of its website pages
for Google ads. The county will receive a commission based on how many
viewers access the page and a bonus for the number who click on the ads.
However, she said, there is "no way of telling" how much will be earned
nor even how it will be calculated. "It's not going to generate a lot of
money," she said. "This is a program designed to make money for Google,
not us." Research found only two other local government agencies around
the country using the program. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
♦ ♦ ♦
County government will use a newly authorized
'revenue stream' to provide some additional financing to volunteer
fire companies. Until now, the county contribution to their operating
costs has been limited to an annual grant.
An ordinance
introduced at County Council's session on June 8 and certain to be
enacted on June 22 will impose a surcharge on all building permits
amounting to a fourth of 1% of the residential constriction value and
the first $1 million of commercial construction value. Effective July 1,
it will not be applied to permits issued for projects undertaken by
public and nonprofit private housing organizations. Based on last year's
permit activity, the surcharge is expected to bring in about $500,000 a
year, according to Nicole Majeski, County Executive Chris Coons's chief
of staff. The fiscal 2011 budget sets the coming year's grant at $3.6
million.
Fire officials have complained that the amount of the grant is dependent
on the county's fiscal situation.
Majeski told
Council's public safety committee that, although Kent and Sussex Counties
already used similar surcharges, obtaining General Assembly approval of
legislation enabling New Castle to follow suit was a tough sell. It
passed the state Senate by one vote after the homebuilders association
and county chamber of commerce lobbied against the measure. She said she
does not expect a repeat when the proposed ordinance reaches the Council
floor. Coons, she said, called a meeting of business leaders and told
them the alternative would be an extremely costly replacement of the
volunteers with a paid county fire department and ambulance service.
Money raised by the surcharge will be distributed evenly twice a year
among the 21 companies.
♦ ♦ ♦
DARLEY GREEN GRANT: Legislation introduced by County Councilmen
John Cartier and Penrose Hollins and scheduled to be acted upon on June
22 would provide a $300,000 grant to Brookview Townhomes Redevelopment
Inc., a unit of Commonwealth Group, to provide down-payment
assistance to eligible public safety personnel who purchase properties
in Darley Green. The measure is intended to "increase sales in the
neighborhood and in the workforce housing community," according to its
legislative summary. Cartier also intended on June 8 to introduce an
ordinance to allow changes in the Darley Green design guidelines, if
approved by the Claymont Design Review Advisory Committee and the
Department of Land Use. It was withdrawn to correct a technical flaw in
its wording.
♦ ♦ ♦
REBOUND:
Average residential property value
in Claymont in May was $240,000, up 21.7% from a year earlier. That
easily topped value at the peak of the real estate boom in 2005 and set
a new high for the decade. Statewide, average value in May was $244,500,
up 16.4% from a year earlier. That data, from the Home Value Index
maintained by Zillow.com, a national real estate tracking service, was
provided by Commonwealth Group and made public by County Councilman
Robert Weiner, who said the trend was "just as we predicted ... at the
onset of the Claymont Renaissance." The index placed average property
value in Claymont in 2000 at $124,000.
Commonwealth apparently is successfully marketing townhouses in the
first section of the Darley Green development.
♦ ♦ ♦
STILL TALKING: It now appears all but
certain that Brandywine Hundred residents will be hung up for a free and
convenient place to dispose of yard waste for, at least, most of the
summer. The state Department of Natural Resources & Environmental
Control is still negotiating with the Du Pont company in hopes of using
a site on Hay Road near Edgemoor to replace the one off Cauffiel
Parkway, Marjorie
Crofts, acting director of the department's Division of Air & Waste
Management, told Delaforum. Meanwhile, the present site, which has drawn
considerable public criticism, especially from residents of nearby
Delaire, will be permanently shut down as scheduled on June 27. A
provision in last year's state capital-spending legislation required the
closure.
The department created confusion on June
4 when it distributed a media notice about the closure which said it was
"seeking a suitable location for a new site in North [sic] New Castle
County." The handout did not refer to Du Pont nor to the previously
announced alternative site, leaving an impression that that deal might
have fallen through. Designated spokesman Michael Globetti told
Delaforum that he "couldn't possibly" explain the notice nor even
confirm the previous announcement. The notice listed several alternative
disposal sites, including the Delaware Solid Waste Authority landfill
near the 12th Street exit from Interstate 495, but noted that all but
the department's other sites on Polly Drummond Hill Road and South Du
Pont Highway charge fees for dumping. (CLICK
HERE to read previous Delaforum article.)
♦ ♦ ♦
DISPUTE RESOLVED: The
long-running dispute over how much
New Castle County government has to pay to use the Wilmington wastewater
treatment plant has ended, but the future cost to the county is still to
be "determined based on new rate-setting methodology." The two
governments issued a media statement on June 4 announcing that they had
accepted, three days earlier, an independent arbitrator's decision
resolving the dispute. It provides for a five-year agreement. The county
already has paid $17.4 million for fiscal 2008 and $17.6 million for
fiscal 2009. The statement said neither County Executive Chris Coons nor
Wilmington Mayor Jim Baker "walked away from the arbitration process
with 100% of what each wanted," but did not say what that was.
♦ ♦ ♦
COONS WON'T STEP
DOWN: Chris
Coons confirmed that he intends to remain
as county executive while he runs for election to the U.S. Senate.
Responding to a Delaforum inquiry, he said he has "great confidence in
[his] leadership team," indicating that he and they are fully capable to
managing county government during the campaign. Moreover, he said, "I
remind you that during the four years I was County Council president --
which was really a full time job -- I was also in-house counsel at Gore
and had three children in three years." It is not unusual for an
incumbent to remain in office while seeking re-election or a different
office. He pointed out that his opponent, U.S. Representative Mike
Castle, is not likely to resign his current position.
Last updated on June 29, 2010
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