Henlopen Acres begins to plan for next dredging project
Earlier this year, in an effort to open all the boat slips, Henlopen Acres dredged its marina for the first time in a decade. Planning for the inevitable next time, town officials approved $50,000 toward continued dredging during a budget meeting June 10.
A study done in 2019 showed the marina’s sedimentation rate has nearly tripled since the 1990s.
The $50,000 designated for dredging is a future budget allocation for maintenance dredging the town plans to keep the marina navigable, said Mayor Joni Reich in an email June 13.
“We recently completed a 3,000-cubic-foot dredging in April, and we expect to spend approximately $150,000 every three years for a similar dredge,” said Reich.
Preparing for the continued dredging of the marina is necessary, but it’s not the town’s most significant item in the capital budget for the coming year. That distinction goes to the completion of a monitoring and communications system for the 11 remote well sites that support the town’s water plant, said Reich. The town budgeted $200,000 toward completion of the project.
The town is using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and the county's recent $100,000 transfer tax grant to help pay for the significant upgrade, said Reich.
“In recent years, we've made it a priority to install new components at the water plant to improve our day-to-day management of the system and ensure its continued reliability,” said Reich.
Town Manager Tom Roth said Henlopen Acres has already completed two phases. These funds will complete the upgrade, he said.
Overall, the town budgeted for approximately $1.03 million in revenue and about $988,000 in expenses for next year’s budget, which begins July 1. As approved, the capital budget comes in at $301,000. The majority of the revenue, almost $395,000, comes from property taxes, while revenues from the marina, the North Shores community and construction fees are all near or above $125,000.
Last year, Henlopen Acres budgeted $125,000 in transfer tax revenue, but during a commissioner meeting in April, Treasurer Jeffrey Jacobs said he expected transfer tax revenue to be about 60% of the budgeted amount. In response, the town budgeted $100,000 in transfer tax revenue for next year.
The transfer tax continues to lag, so the town reduced the transfer tax budget by 20%, said Roth.
After increasing marina slips fees for the past two years and increasing property taxes and the water usage fee last year, there was no increase in taxes for next year’s budget. The only increase in fees was a hike in the board of adjustment fee from $1,000 to $1,500, said Roth.
In addition to passing next year’s budget, the town’s holiday pay policy was revised to pay part-time employees time-and-a-half for working on a holiday.
