Alleviate school tax burden

Jeffrey W. Seemans

February 21, 2020

Event Date:

Tue, 02/18/2020 - 10:15 pm

After three separate attempts, the Indian River School District recently passed a successful school referendum for new capital construction.

I then read that Sussex County, unlike New Castle and Kent counties, has no required school impact fee legislation, which has produced millions of dollars for school districts like the Appoquinimink School District which constitutes the fast-growing Middletown region.

According to Appoquinimink School District’s own website, “members of the Appoquinimink School Board fought for passage of this legislation in the 1990s.” Would someone, anyone, please tell me why Sussex County Council never bothered to latch onto this revenue stream during the last decade after the Great Recession?

Or why didn’t the local school districts down here lobby to get Sussex County to enact school impact legislation?

Southern New Castle County was once a very rural, agricultural area. It and Sussex County have many similarities – explosive growth being one of them. Quoting again from Appoquinimink’s website, “In New Castle County, developers pay a one-time charge called an impact fee each time a new home is built. The county collects the fee - currently $5,738/home, up from $4,348 five years ago - on behalf of the district. The money goes into a dedicated account where it is reserved for use on new school construction and/or major capital construction projects.”

I read where Appoquinimink School District has collected $7.6 million from this school impact fee.

Although Sussex County has lost millions of dollars over the last two decades by their failure to act, it doesn’t mean that this idea cannot be voted on now to alleviate the school tax burden on school district residents.

If this explosive land development is going to continue in Sussex County, why not make new future homeowners pay their fair share of part of the burden that they are helping to create?

Jeffrey W. Seemans
Milton

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