MILTON, Del. - Milton's town council approved a 9 percent property tax increase Monday night during the 2023-2024 budget approval process. The tax rate will increase from 0.295 to 0.324, so owners will pay around 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
One councilwoman said the increase will be about equal to the annual cost of living adjustment in order to provide the same level of service to the public as in the past year.
"I can attest to the fact that we review every line item and reduced or eliminated anything that we thought we could postpone," said councilwoman Lee Revis-Plank. "All of our department heads worked up their departments' needs and those totals were combined for the grand total."
"I know that the pandemic happened and rocked the boat, and inflation happened... It takes the whole economy with it," she said. "I'm confident that this budget is as good as we can make it."
Revis-Plank continued to say that it came down to balancing revenues with expenditures. Milton Mayor John Collier agreed that inflation is still catching up with them, as costs for the town have gone up as well. Collier said there was an increase around 20 percent for town insurance and a 10 percent increase on employee healthcare costs. Though some expenditures were cut, the council also looked at increasing some fees collected, like the use of boat slips by non-residents.
"Trash fees are going up," Collier said, "and we can't provide trash service for less than cost."
He told CoastTV News that he understands this is a big issue for retired people on a fixed income.
"A lot of care and attention went into crafting this budget. This is what it takes to provide the current services at the current level to Milton," Collier said. "We're not getting as much done as we'd like to and we're looking into other sources for funding. We'll catch up."
