Editor’s note: This letter was published June 3, 2021, and has been republished at the request of the author.
Incredibly, if you are not a permanent resident of Lewes, you cannot vote in the Lewes City Council election.
Those of us who are not permanent residents but own property in the city limits of Lewes and pay property taxes are not allowed to vote!
What on earth is the reasoning behind this concept? Rehoboth Beach allows all property owners in its city limits to vote.
Elections have consequences, and we in Lewes are experiencing a governance turnover in city council, board of public works and the planning commission for various reasons.
The most obvious to me is that the residents of Lewes through discontent of past performance have expressed themselves by bringing new people with new ideas to the table to begin solving problems rather than ignoring them and blaming others for previous shortsightedness or anxiety of making a tough decision.
Without full representation, the repercussions of the latest sea-level rise proposal, the 50 percent lot coverage proposal and the 50 percent of structure value improvement rule could impact Lewes property values as well as create potential extreme legal issues for the city from mortgage lenders and insurance companies.
There are 3,313 properties in the city limits of Lewes and only 1,024 are permanent residents, which means about 31 percent are eligible to vote. Breaking it down further, there are 659 properties on Lewes Beach and only 91 permanent residents, so that means only 13.8 percent of the Lewes Beach property owners have a say in who makes decisions in Lewes. Taxation without representation is wrong and must be changed immediately!
Call or email each city council member and encourage them to change this policy to allow all city taxpayers in Lewes to vote. You can find city council contact information here: https://www.ci.lewes.de.us/152/Mayor-City-Council.
Each property owner should have the right to vote to protect their investment and ensure that Lewes is not influenced by agenda politics, coalitions and/or special-interest groups.
The new Lewes City Council is exactly that – new! Hopefully, they will begin to attack problems, assert themselves by making tough decisions for the majority, develop solutions for critical issues and do the right thing.
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