Henlopen Acres seeing dip in transfer tax revenue

Henlopen Acres’ fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30, which means it’s almost budget season for the town.

Commission Treasurer Jeff Jacobs gave town officials a brief update on the budget through three quarters April 8, and he said he expected transfer tax revenue to be roughly 57 percent of the budgeted $125,000. Jacobs said through March 31, the town had seen $32,000 in revenue, and he was forecasting revenue to be at $71,000 by year’s end.

Jacobs said the town uses the tax for long-term infrastructure projects, not operating expenses. He said commissioners might want to consider lowering the projected amount when the budget is figured out in June.

Mayor Joni Reich said the town has a $1.5 million balance in the fund for capital improvements.

In other budget news, Jacobs said all property taxes were paid and all but one property had paid its gross receipts tax, which comes from properties that rent. Overall, he said, the town’s operating revenue is slightly in excess of expenses.

Commissioners change definition of family

At the April 8 meeting, Henlopen Acres commissioners voted unanimously to amend the town’s definition of family to include nontraditional families.

The definition of family was first discussed in October as part of a package of changes to the zoning code. At the time, Commissioner John Staffier brought attention to the conflict between defining family as a social group, while at the same time prohibiting group rentals.

As approved, family is now defined as, “a single person occupying a dwelling unit and maintaining a household; or two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption occupying a dwelling unit, living together as a social unit and maintaining a common household; or not more than three persons unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption living together as a social unit and maintaining a common household.”

Town Solicitor Glenn Mandalas said the new language is similar to other local municipalities and allows for nontraditional families. The old definition is not constitutionally stable and needed to be updated, he said.

The approved ordinance also deletes the definition of group rental from the zoning code, leaving it only in the code related to rentals. Group rentals are not allowed in Henlopen Acres.

Town boundaries extend into the canal

Spurred by the town receiving a draft copy of the Rehoboth Beach 2020 Comprehensive Development Plan to comment on, there was a brief discussion about how the boundary of the town actually extends halfway into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal. As part of the state’s CDP approval process, municipalities submit a draft of the document to surrounding municipalities for comment.

Town Manager Tom Roth said he couldn’t remember specifics, but a memory of an annexation was jogged while looking at the city limits map submitted by Rehoboth in the draft CDP. He then produced an old map of Henlopen Acres with the portion of the canal, which is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, included.

Mandalas confirmed the boundary and said there was even an article about the change covered by a local newspaper.

According to an Evening News Journal article from June 21, 1973, the town annexed roughly one mile of the canal’s eastern half, “along the town’s western fringe.” The article, identified only as from the paper’s Sussex Bureau, says the town’s move was done one day before Rehoboth Beach was scheduled to hold an annex referendum “to absorb the entire canal and its shores up to about three miles north of Henlopen Acres.”

Roth said he plans to point out the discrepancy when he writes back to Rehoboth with the town’s comments.

Parking permits for cul-de-sacs

Holding up a pair of hang tags, Roth reminded officials and residents in attendance that parking permits will be needed to park in cul-de-sacs close to the beach in 2022. Each property owner will receive two numbered permit hang tags, and each rental property will receive two numbered hang tags.