Salisbury Property Assessments
There has been an average decline of 7 percent for property values in Salisbury since the onset of the Great Recession.
City Administrator John Pick said this was the most dramatic decline in the last three years.
The city’s overall assessed value plunged by more than $130 million.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the new numbers are expected to play a key rote this week as Mayor Jim Ireton and the City Council begin grappling with the city budget.
If the city would keep revenue from property taxes steady at $15 million officials would have to raise the tax rate to maintain that for this year.
Property tax revenues account for about 30 percent of all money raised for city services.
Meanwhile, Wicomico County property values dropped by 5 percent while Maryland overall saw a decline less than 1 percent.
Wicomico County Budget
Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt will be unveiling his budget today for the fiscal year 2014.
While it has not been released the Salisbury Daily Times reports that Pollitt indicated there could be an 8.1 percent increase in property taxes.
That would make it 90 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
This is the last year the county has to increase the property tax rates to the maximum allowed under the revenue cap.
The county can break the cap if any money gathered above the revenue cap goes directly to the Board of Education.
Last year’s budget totaled $117 million including a 2 percent pay increase for county employees and a 7 percent increase in the property tax.
Delaware
NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) - The panel that sets Delaware's official revenue projections is updating its financial forecast.
The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council will meet Monday to discuss the state's financial picture, including projected tax revenues. The deadline for filing state income taxes is April 30.
The DEFAC panel last month lowered projected revenues for the current fiscal year by $26.5 million, but boosted projections for the fiscal year starting July 1 by $37.6 million.
Since then, majority Democrats in the General Assembly approved Gov. Jack Markell's proposals to make several 2009 recession-era tax increases permanent.
Republicans argued that the move was premature because DEFAC still has three more updates to make before the late-June deadline for lawmakers to pass a budget for fiscal 2014.
