Rehoboth budget talks begin

A quarter of the way through its current fiscal year, Rehoboth commissioners have begun discussing budget priorities for next year and beyond, and it appears taxpayers should expect increases in expenses.

“We have a funding problem,” said Commissioner Jay Lagree, during a special board of commissioners meeting July 20.

Rehoboth’s fiscal year budget runs April 1 through March 31. Commissioners approved a $21 million budget in March. There were no increases in taxes, but all parking permit fees were increased this season, except for seasonal transferable and nontransferable permits. Later in March, commissioners also voted in favor of increasing rental fees for the convention center, Grove Park and beach wedding permit fees beginning January 2019.

At the most recent meeting, Mayor Paul Kuhns said during the high season, thousands of people jam into Rehoboth on a daily basis, and the high season continues to expand.

“Our small city is almost completely built out,” he said. “However, there will be continuous future change, and we need to be cognizent of the nature of those possible changes and how they will affect our community.”

Kuhns then went on to suggest the town should look into developing a tourism fund to promote Rehoboth as a premier vacation destination. He said the town should look toward the possibility of a beach replenishment fund, develop a city wide water system infrastructure maintenance plan and a long-term maintenance plan for the Boardwalk.

Commissioner Stan Mills said his guiding principles for Rehoboth are clean, safe and friendly. He said he wants to identify all the unidentified pipes running into the city’s catch basins. He said he would like to continue to improve accessibility, possibly establish public family restrooms and better organize city bicycle racks.

Mills said he would like to improve the streetscape of First Street and better maintain city parks. A lot of the parks are becoming forests and a person can’t even throw a frisbee, he said.

Commissioner Kathy McGuiness said the city looks cleaner this year than the past two, but, she said, the city is also beginning to look worn, which is unacceptable, especially when there are neighboring communities that aren’t looking worn.

“People have choices,” McGuiness said, referring to visitor vacation location options.

McGuiness said she was in favor of the city taking a step back, hiring a professional to evaluate the urgency of different issues and then having that professional walking the city through the fixes while holding its hand.

Commissioner Toni Sharp asked City Manager Sharon Lynn if the reason for the substandard maintenance is funding issues or staffing issues. It’s the same things over and over again, Sharp said.

Lynn said the lack of attention to detail is related to personnel issues.

Kuhns said he expects to hold three or four similar meetings, beginning with a second meeting Friday, Aug. 17, the same day as the board’s next regularly scheduled monthly meeting. He said expects to prioritize goals at the next meeting.