Mayor Jim Ireton has set a deadline of July 1st for Wicomico County to come to an agreement on tax relief for city residents when it comes to providing city fire and emergency services.
If the deadline is not met those services will no longer be extended beyond the city limits.
That was the message from the Mayor to the City Council yesterday during a discussion of his plans for the 2016 fiscal year.
Declaring – what he has termed – the nuclear option, the Mayor said that the city has been flexible in asking over many years for the tax relief for duplicated services.
As for critics who warn that someone might die in a fire the Mayor responded, “I am not scared. Something has to be done here."
During the meeting County Executive Bob Culver told the Salisbury Daily Times that while he did not know if the deadline could be met the Mayor was “completely right.”
Meanwhile, the paper also reports that the Mayor’s budget contained a 2 percent reduction in water and sewer rates for all city residents as well as a cut in rates for urban service customers aimed at retirees who live in homes that used to be occupied by as many as ten people.
