Open space funding should be preserved

Gov. John Carney's proposed budget for the 2019 fiscal year that begins July 1 includes more than $4 billion in expenditures to sustain and improve our government and state. Public education, at 34 percent of the expenditures, and public health and social services at 28 percent, are by far the largest categories in the spending proposals. That is direct investment in people.

On the revenue side of the ledger, personal income taxes, at 32 percent, and incorporation taxes and fees, at 28 percent, are the largest funding sources. That incorporation money, coming largely from outside Delaware's borders, continues to give us a great advantage over other states.

Because of its almost windfall status, a portion of it should be set aside each year for one-time uses with long-term benefits, outside of recurring operational expenses. Absent a policy that says just that, there are other ways.

Wisely, the Carney administration, on the strength of an improving economy, has proposed using $100 million in anticipated surplus money for important one-time expenditures.

In that proposal is $30 million for purposes that could have great benefit for Sussex. Of that, $20 million is designated for open space acquisition and farmland preservation.

It's been too long since the budget has contained money for open space acquisition, and yet that is sorely needed to help balance rapid development. It's that development that is helping to grow the state's economy. In the process, it should be leveraged to give us the breathing space and health benefits of forest and field.

That $30 million also includes $10 million for clean water, safe drinking water, and shoreline management to keep our beaches healthy.

Sussex County's legislators should band together and stand firmly behind these proposed expenditures, and even fight for more. Our farmland needs protection; our degraded waterways and bays need serious and immediate attention, and open space acquisition will help protect our wildlife, quality of life in general, and property values.