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Sussex must partner with Delmar, Perdue

July 3, 2018

The town of Delmar hopes to welcome the global headquarters of Perdue Agribusiness – and the 200 corporate jobs that would come with it – to a 17-acre site along Route 13 in Sussex County.

The project requires a $480,000 investment in infrastructure to provide water and sewer service to the site. Town officials have budgeted $125,000 for the project, and state officials have promised $205,000 more. Delmar officials recently asked county council for a grant for the remaining $150,000 to keep the project on track for a late-summer groundbreaking.

Sweetening the deal for Delmar and Sussex County, once the infrastructure is in place, five more commercially zoned parcels could also be developed. This project represents one of the largest single business expansions in Sussex County for at least a decade. Yet when asked for help, council balked. "Once we do a grant for Delmar, the dominoes will start to fall," Councilman George Cole lamented.

This is the same council that has invested millions in the county airport to attract new businesses and help one existing company expand. It's the same council that recently structured a $1.5 million loan for a sports complex in Georgetown whose terms – zero interest plus no repayment for the first 10 years – make it virtually a grant for the first decade.

In the county's $143 million budget, the $150,000 needed to ensure this project moves forward is a small price to pay for significant growth along Route 13, a corridor ideally suited for development. Surely county officials can come up with a grant, or a loan that looks like a grant, to ensure Delmar lands this project.

Council should go even farther. It should establish a fund for economic development projects to help offset the costs of infrastructure improvements tied to job creation, so county officials would be ready when towns need help to land major clients.

Sussex officials often say they support economic development and job creation. Ensuring this project goes forward would show they mean it.

 

 

  • Editorials are considered and written by Cape Gazette Editorial Board members, including Publisher Chris Rausch, Editor Jen Ellingsworth, News Editor Nick Roth and reporters Ron MacArthur and Chris Flood. 

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