DEWEY BEACH, DE - Visitors to Dewey Beach will soon be paying more for parking as town commissioners voted on Friday to increase fees for both metered and permit parking.
The former metered parking fee in Dewey Beach was $3 per hour, this fee will be raised to $3.50.
- Daily parking rates will see an increase from $25 to $30
- Weekend rates will increase from $45 to $55,
- Weekly rates will go up from $90 to $100.
- Seasonal Rates will increase from $250 to $300, reducing to $150 in August
Business owners, property owners, and employees will also be eligible for discounted rates.
According to Dewey Town Manager Bill Zolper, the decision to raise parking fees was driven by the need to address rising costs across various town expenditures, including staffing and health insurance.
Zolper noted that Dewey Beach faces a unique struggle when raising funds,
“Dewey doesn’t have a property tax, where all the other beach communities have a property tax, where they can raise funds that way. We really rely on transfer tax, accommodation tax, and parking," said Zolper.
Zolper says increased interest rates and inflation have led to struggles with other taxes,
“We look at transfer tax and hotel tax, and last year they went down, this year we’re just gonna make budget on them. The first year I was here, three years ago, we had a million dollars in transfer tax come in, this year – only 500,000 dollars came in," Zolper added.
However, not everyone is thrilled to hear about the raise. Erin Callin, who does interior modeling in Dewey, expressed concerns about the impact of increased parking fees on residents and workers.
"If the yearly fees for our parking passes go up, it’s going to make everything a little more expensive, and we just can’t handle any more hikes," Callin said.
Delight Santos, who also works in Dewey, echoed similar sentiments, saying that the increase in parking fees would make work more challenging, especially during the busy summer months.
"Everyday in the summer it’s a fight to find a parking space, so if I have to come here and work every single day, and pay the parking fees every single day, it’s really just counterproductive if you think about it," Santos said.
