Election contest winners announced at meeting
In Kent County, where failed school district referendums have almost become the norm recently, exploring other possible revenue sources was inevitable. Impact fees on developments, which are said to stress area schools, have become a viable option — even prompting a state code change last year. While Sussex County schools by most accounts do not have the same problem with getting referendums approved, impact fees could still help, local leaders have pointed out.
The implementation of such a tax would require changes in the Delaware and Sussex County Codes but could offer districts additional funding without referendums to raise taxes.
“This is a very serious issue,” said Vance Phillips (R-5th), who was quickly rebutted by Democratic County Councilman Dale Dukes.
“There’s a lot of opposition (to such a tax). How about people that live in 55-and-over communities; is that fair,” Dukes said, insinuating that the tax would be passed on to residents, some of whom, or even whose families, don’t benefit from local public schools.
George Cole (R-4th) said that if such an impact fee was implemented, it should be all-inclusive.
“One generation pays for the next,” Cole said, recommending that the issue be discussed in a separate workshop. “That’s the way Roosevelt intended it.”
Officials who spoke on the issue Tuesday said that an impact fee on development for schools might not be a necessity in a county where school districts do not have much problem passing referendums.
Indian River and Cape Henlopen School District residents overwhelmingly approved tax hikes through referendums earlier this year. In Kent County — where officials effectively lobbied a state code change to allow implementation of an impact fee on development for schools — Smyrna and Caesar Rodney School District recently rejected referendums.
Sen. George Bunting (D-20th), in attendance Tuesday, said that although Sussex County might not have the need for an impact fee that Kent does, the legislature would likely be open to making a code change to facilitate one.
“I don’t see any reason that they could deny it if you made that request,” Bunting said Tuesday.
Election contest winners announced
Megan Rodgers, a 14-year-old freshman at Sussex Central High School, correctly picked all of the winners of this year’s election and won a tiebreaker with another perfect-choicer to win this year’s election contest. She won a $200 scholarship prize. The five runner-ups each won $100 scholarship prizes. Natalie Sava, an 11-year-old fifth grader also correctly predicted all 22 of the contest’s races. Jillian Frederick, 16, Megan Phillips, 16, and Cameron Goff, 7, each predicted 21 of the 22 races correctly. Perry Townsend, an 18-year-old senior at Indian River High School correctly selected 20 of the winners and won a tie-breaker among the Sussex students 18 and younger eligible for the contest. Nearly 300 county-wide students participated.