Letter: Mayor Kuhns’ latest gift to business and large rentals

Mayor Paul Kuhns’ proposal to give Rehoboth’s wastewater treatment plant to Sussex County is truly shocking. Rehoboth’s homeowners must urgently contact the mayor and commissioners to stop this effort to give away control of our quality of life, and should attend the town hall Saturday, Jan. 5, at 10 a.m. in City Hall to oppose this insane scheme.

There is absolutely no benefit in this proposal for the homeowners in Rehoboth. Mayor Kuhns states the “average” annual cost of sewer service will be lower if the county takes over the wastewater plant.

However, this is misleading because the “average” is skewed by the very heavy users. It is a meaningless figure for the typical homeowners, who will pay much more if the county takes over than if Rehoboth retains control.

Less than 10 percent of Rehoboth’s wastewater customers - mainly the restaurants, hotels and large rental properties - use more than half of the total wastewater service. The county’s flat-rate billing method, regardless of actual usage, will drastically reduce their share of the total cost. This proposal is the mayor’s latest gift to businesses and commercial rental properties in town, paid for on the backs of the homeowners.

Going forward, Rehoboth homeowners also would have to pay a share of the expensive sewer upgrades across Sussex County to support their explosive growth. But at the same time, we would receive no compensation for the tens of thousands of additional county users who would be added to the ocean outfall that we must continue to pay off for 25 years. The county claims this is “non-negotiable” but the truth is the mayor simply failed to negotiate in the interests of his constituents.

Mayor Kuhns has defended these massive shifts in costs by claiming that the heavier users (businesses and large rental properties) are currently subsidizing the lower-flow users (homeowners) for access to the system. Once again, this is totally misleading.

For one thing, the top 10 percent receive greater benefits from the sewer system; they make money from their businesses using the sewer service, and it is right that they should pay more for those benefits. For another thing, Rehoboth’s homeowners agreed to the wastewater improvement projects on the premise that these projects would be paid for through usage-based rate increases.

Since 2009, the mayor and commissioners repeatedly voted to affirm this usage-based method - surcharges now totaling 50 percent - to pay for these projects. That was also the basis on which Rehoboth’s voters approved the outfall project in 2015. It is simply wrong and undemocratic for Mayor Kuhns to now try to force homeowners to subsidize businesses by shifting to a flat-rate payment structure.

Because the mayor has pursued this proposal in haste and largely in secret (including an illegal executive session with county officials in October), we have no way to verify the accuracy of the county’s numbers.

There has been no public request for bids or proposals, as is normal when a city is considering acquisition or disposal of major assets.

Once the county takes control it will be completely free to change the numbers and increase our rates even higher than the bad deal already on the table. Rehoboth will lose all control over sewer services, and we will see diminished service level, higher cost, and lower quality of life.

Mayor Kuhns sang a very different tune when he was a commissioner and supporting a public-private partnership for spray irrigation by companies like Artesian and Tidewater (and his brother was representing Tidewater as a consultant in the meetings).

In an October 2008 meeting, Commissioner Kuhns argued for the importance of Rehoboth keeping control: “In looking forward, the city would probably never sell the facility itself. Artesian and Tidewater, etc., do not set the fees. The city sets the fees.” But now, Mayor Kuhns is rushing to give up control over our fees, and give away the city’s wastewater facility and land along with the $42 million upgrades just completed at our cost. What has changed, Paul?

Mayor Kuhns wastewater proposal is just a windfall to businesses, rental properties and Sussex County developers, at the expense of Rehoboth’s homeowners, once again.

Gary Glass
Rehoboth Beach