Rehoboth unveils roadmap for future spending
Rehoboth Beach officials unveiled a draft version of a five-year capital improvement plan they say will serve as a roadmap for future spending.
“I think it’s very critical,” City Manager Sharon Lynn said of the 90-page plan, which city officials intend to use to coordinate the financing and timing of proposed capital improvements.
The plan targets $3.1 million in capital spending for next year. Much of that total, $2.3 million, is under the streets department budget and will go towards a variety of projects. These include replacing two trash trucks, two drainage improvement projects and sidewalk improvements on Second Street. Also under the department’s purview are street repaving, as well as administrative items such as a new office trailer and a new roof for the vehicle bay, which is leaking.
A drainage project at First Street is the big ticket item for next year, estimated at $468,000. It requires new pipes at the intersection of Columbia Avenue and First Street, and new piping down to Lake Avenue. Upgrades are needed because the existing drain system from Columbia Avenue to Lake and from Surf Avenue to First Street was grossly inadequate, a report from the streets department says.
A $106,000 drainage improvement project is planned next year at the intersection of East Lake Drive and Prospect Street. This project entails removing and replacing the existing culvert and catch basin, and extending the storm drainage system. The project is considered essential because in the winter, the street will freeze over because of drainage, the streets department report says.
The plan would set aside $250,000 every year for city-wide street repaving. An aside to that project is a proposed $112,000 to replace the existing sidewalk at Second Street and Baltimore Avenue, adjacent to Mark Showell Interiors. Lynn said the sidewalk is sloped and is difficult for people in wheelchairs.
Other items included in the plan targeted for next year are repainting the Bandstand, a $100,000 project to install Americans with Disabilities Act compliant walking trails along Lake Gerar and Stockley Street parks, $277,000 for a closed-circuit television monitoring system at the wastewater treatment plant, and a new police car.
Although spending in the plan is highest for next year, it drops down to $1.3 million in 2019-20 and to about $1 million the next two years. Mayor Paul Kuhns said the city put off many of these improvements the last few years to pay for other things.
The plan also includes ideas for funding capital improvements down the road, including grants, operating revenues such as taxes, municipal bonds and bank loans. Kuhns said part of the commissioners’ discussion will have to focus on new revenue sources since the city is just about at its $75 million borrowing limit after taking on the City Hall and ocean outfall projects.
Kuhns said the plan was a way to figure out what the city needs and how to pay for it. Commissioner Stan Mills applauded the plan, saying he has been trying to get something like it off the ground for years.
“I’m very excited about this,” he said.
Commissioners Toni Sharp and Patrick Gossett also applauded the plan.
“It gives us a good start as far as equipment needs going forward,” Gossett said.
Commissioner Lisa Schlosser said the plan is a good start, but she would like to see it tied into the city’s comprehensive development plan. She said the comprehensive plan contains long-term policy goals, and the capital improvement plan should tie into those policy goals.
To view the plan, visit www.cityofrehoboth.com.
