Dear Friends,
Last week, County Council passed the Fiscal Year 2010 budget. This was a difficult budget process, and required many tough decisions. We cut $23 million from this budget, which is the largest budget reduction in county history. We reached salary concessions with more than 900 employees on a 5 percent salary reduction for the coming year to bring down our employee costs. Lastly, we asked homeowners to contribute $100 more on average to sustain valued county services.
This budget puts us on the right path towards addressing our long-term financial challenges, but we have more work ahead of us. What we cannot continue to do is rely on property tax increases and the Real Estate Transfer Tax to cover our expenses. What we must do is grow our local economy, diversify our revenue streams, and negotiate new contracts with our workforce that better reflect our fiscal reality. None of these are easy tasks, but are critical for the county's fiscal future.
Earlier this week, we announced that New Castle County will be receiving federal stimulus dollars that will help support our Public Safety Department. We'll also receive federal funds to expand current housing programs for homeless assistance, foreclosure prevention, and for neighborhood stabilization under existing federal housing programs. Lastly, the county will receive federal funding for one-time capital projects that will fund the purchase of solar energy systems, for example, to help power county facilities or completion of greenways in our parks, both of which are projects that we would not complete but for these federal funds. While helpful, these one-time capital dollars will not solve our ongoing operating challenges.
As always, I am proud to serve as your County Executive and look forward to working together to overcome the challenges we face and continuing to deliver great services for strong communities.
Sincerely,
Chris
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