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Delaware passes tax cap override, false alarm local laws

By Derek Kirk
Posted 10/14/22

DELAWARE – The Delaware Town Board gathered for their regular meeting on Wednesday, October 12 where they adopted a pair of local laws regarding a tax cap override and the implementation of a …

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Delaware passes tax cap override, false alarm local laws

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DELAWARE – The Delaware Town Board gathered for their regular meeting on Wednesday, October 12 where they adopted a pair of local laws regarding a tax cap override and the implementation of a deterrent to avoid numerous false alarms.

Town Supervisor Scott DuBois gave a glimpse of their plan to mitigate the potential rise of taxes for residents next year.

Local Law number 1 of 2022 is set to override the two percent tax levy limit put in place by the state. 

DuBois said that the passing of this local law is “just in case.” One resident expressed concern of the town possibly raising resident’s taxes due to the results of the recent tax certiorari case against the Villa Roma Resorts.

DuBois also said that the legislation is not solely in response to the financial issues that are expected to arise in the town as a result of the tax certiorari case. 

DuBois assured that similar local laws are regularly adopted in neighboring towns and have been previously adopted in the town of Delaware before. 

The second piece of legislation that was adopted Wednesday night was another local law creating a deterrent to multiple false alarm violations in the interest of protecting first responders and saving money within the town.

The level of fines will go as follows – one offense is left with a warning, the second and third false alarms are met with a $250 fine, a fourth is $500, and a fifth offense is $1,000.

“It’s not to punish anyone. If it [a fire alarm] is broken, you should get it fixed,” DuBois said.

In addition to passing the pair of local laws, DuBois gave a brief insight as to what the town’s plans are in mitigating the potential rise in resident’s taxes next year.

In addition to needing to raise roughly an additional $80,000 as a result of the loss of $13 million in assessed value of the Villa Roma, the town also owes back to the resort around $500,000, which will initially be paid to the county.

According to DuBois, to avoid significantly raising taxes, the town will be approaching the debt with a “hybrid” plan. 

This plan would include reaching into the town’s savings funds to pay off a chunk of the debt, which is estimated to be around north of $250,000, and focus on raising money using other means. 

The Board stated they are primarily against borrowing money and accruing interest rates at this time.

“We understand that this is really tough on everybody,” DuBois said. 

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