This is reported to me by multiple sources at Leg Hall, (and the NJ!)with counties and other municipalities (and the REALTORS) furiously pushing back on this as well as the decrease in revenue sharing for the Real Estate Transfer tax. None of this is a done deal until the legislature takes its final vote, but blowing big holes in every single county and municipal entity here in Delaware doesn’t strike me as the most productive bit of business. Of course, they wouldn’t have such a big problem if they had passed a gas tax last year. Or if they had even passed the weak tea of the fee increases this week:
The bare bones $127 million capital project budget passed by Bond Bill Committee lawmakers Friday morning means no new paving projects, no municipal street aid for Delaware’s larger towns and cities, and no new community transportation fund money, which lawmakers use for smaller infrastructure projects in their districts.
“This limited program will affect everyone in your district,” said DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan. “You are going to hear from them.”
Committee members begrudgingly voted in the department’s budget after the Senate failed to pass legislation Thursday that would have raised nearly $24 million via hikes to Department of Motor Vehicle fees. Lawmakers in both chambers still have to pass the state’s capital and operating budget during the last day of legislative session on June 30.
I’m very unhappy that the cuts to the bond bill apparently hit veterans, children and the elderly the most — while we somehow can find the money to transport charter school kids. I’m really disturbed that all of the governments who passed budgets based upon their usual share of the real estate transfer tax are now facing deficits not of their own making. The City of Wilmington is really going to be hit by this, but the person who sits on the Bond Bill for Wilmington no longer cares about what happens to the city as long as Dennis Williams is hurt.
More importantly, this is a corner that the Democrats made. By insisting that new taxes to pay for infrastructure were unnecessary last year, or even establishing some leadership on paying for the government that people want (as in stop giving the All the Government You Can Eat for Free crowd any credibility), or even taking up HB 196 as a signature initiative, this is how you pay for living in a defensive crouch over new revenues when the people you represent keep asking for more and better services. The GOP is being irresponsible, of course, but it isn’t as though there’s much leadership on this issue from the Democrats over the past years, either. The game-playing continues and we still drive our cars over pothole-filled roads.