Lewes gets citizen input at budget workshop

Elizabeth McCaffrey said she came to the Lewes Citizen Engagement Workshop to broaden her perspective on the city’s budget priorities.

McCaffrey was among those who cast her vote with fake money, known as Lewes bucks, for how the city’s money should be spent.

“I think infrastructure and resiliency. I think [they] make a very good point that we really need that because it doesn’t exist,” McCaffrey said.

The workshop was hosted by the Lewes Financial Stewardship Subcommittee Nov. 21. The panel is chaired by Councilpersons Amy Marasco and Joe Elder.

It is working on details to help the city transition from an annual to a multi-year budget cycle, three years and then a two-year forecast.

There were identical day and evening sessions.

Mayor Andrew Williams kicked off the workshop by telling residents the process will result in some hard decisions being made.

“Think what is important to you as a resident of Lewes. What might you be willing to give and give up,” Williams said.

The sessions started with presentations from city departments.

Charlie O’Donnell, the city engineer from George, Miles & Buhr, talked about infrastructure, with a focus on the 27.4 miles of city-maintained streets.

He said the city is developing a capital improvement plan to address streets, but he said it won’t happen all at once.

“It would take almost $30 million over the next 10 years to bring every street that is in need of maintenance up to a brand-new standard,” O’Donnell said.

Brent Jett, engineer and coastal resiliency group leader at GMB, talked about the need for a resiliency fund in Lewes. He said few other communities have resiliency funds.

A resiliency fund would provide a separate pot of money that can be used as a grant match or on direct projects to build resiliency in town. He said that money would allow the city to build back better after a disaster.

“We want [Lewes] to be here for another 400 years. That takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of money and a lot of focus,” Jett said. “It has to be done to relieve a lot of stresses on the budget.”

Jett’s table was very popular when attendees fanned out across the Rollins Center to talk to city leaders in small groups.

“We need to be prepared. Now is a good time to get started,” said Lori Swift after speaking with Jett. “I would be for raising taxes, a little bit.”

The exercise wrapped up with people depositing their Lewes bucks into bins.

Those bins represented taxes and fees that they would be willing to have the city increase to pay for budget priorities, among them the gross rental receipts tax, real estate taxes, parking meters and the creation of a resiliency fee.

People could split their money between various categories, or drop it all into one.

Lewes City Manager Ellen Lorraine McCabe said everything is on the table when it comes to increasing or developing new revenue streams.

The city also wants to know how much, if anything, it should give in charitable donations.

“Budgets are thought of as just numbers. But a really good budget reflects the values of the residents and taxpayers,” Marasco said.

The subcommittee will discuss the results of the workshop at its next meeting, set for 11 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Rollins Center.