REHOBOTH BEACH, DE - The Board of Commissioners will hold a special budget meeting before adopting the fiscal year 2025 budget.
Rehoboth Beach Commissioners say they will hold a fifth special budget meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, March 15, to make final decisions to the budget before adopting said budget during a 2 p.m. regular meeting the same day.
At $38.6 million, the city's proposed FY25 budget reportedly includes an anticipated 27% increase in the state's employee health insurance program and salary increases indicated by a compensation and classification study that was completed earlier this year.
In addition, the budget includes about $10 million in capital investments, including for:
- Construction of the new beach patrol headquarters/comfort station at Baltimore Avenue
- Completion of phase 3B of critical upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant
- Resurfacing of the first two blocks of Rehoboth Avenue (in coordination with a DelDOT project to resurface the rest of Rehoboth Avenue)
- Annual citywide paving project (on Maryland Avenue and 1st Street in FY25)
- Water main replacement on Maryland Avenue
To balance the FY25 budget, commissioners have raised meter and parking permit fees, as well as the rental tax rate effective on contracts executed after April 1. At the March 15 budget meeting, commissioners are expected to determine contributions as requested by four community organizations and wastewater fees for the coming year.
Commissioners appeared to reach consensus at their March 4 meeting to raise wastewater meter fees 28% from $14.70/1,000 gallons to $18.81/1,000 gallons. Officials say this increase will address the cost for making critical improvements at the wastewater treatment plant. The 10-year project, currently in the third of four phases, will cost the city a total of about $70 million.
The city's 2025 fiscal year begins April 1.