Budget, email wars and taxes on NCCo plate tonight/">Hi
Already a subscriber?
Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device.
Already a print edition subscriber, but don't have a login?
Manage your account settings.
Get the news
Already a subscriber?
Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device.
Already a subscriber, but don't have a login?
Share This Story!Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about
FacebookEmailBudget, email wars and taxes on NCCo plate tonightNCCo Council will wage the next battle in fight against the administration Tuesday
Post to Facebook
CancelSendSent!A link has been sent to your friend's email address.
Posted!A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
Join the ConversationTo find out more about Facebook commenting please read the
Subscribed, but don't have a login?
Budget, email wars and taxes on NCCo plate tonight11:11 a.m. EDT May 26, 2015County Councilman George Smiley(Photo: KYLE GRANTHAM/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
CONNECT 3 TWEET
COMMENTEMAILMORENew Castle County Council will debate tax reassessments, email wars and the government’s $256.7 million budget on Tuesday.
The council will vote on tax reassessments and budget issues at its 6:30 p.m. meeting in the Louis L. Redding City/County Building at 800 French Street in Wilmington.
Councilman George Smiley is pushing an effort to reassess all property values in the county to their true market value.
Property assessments are applied to tax rates for various government services to determine the property owner's tax bill. Most states regularly update the property valuations comprising its tax base, but Delaware's counties have not.
New Castle County hasn't updated its property value assessments since 1983, meaning taxes have been calculated with values that are, on average, a third of today's true market value.
But bringing those valuations in line with today's reality doesn't mean there will be a comparable increase in taxes. If the reassessment goes forward, the county will have to dial back its taxing rate in order to bring in close to the same amount of total taxes than it collected prior to the reassessment.
State law does allow the county to collect 15 percent more total taxes following the reassessment. Smiley said the intent of that law is to pay for the actual task of going out and surveying buildings to reassess the values.
He is presenting legislation separate from the bill prompting the reassessment to pay for the effort with the county's existing tax reserves. Smiley said this would preclude the county from taking any more taxes than the $109 million it estimates to bring in this year.
Only a handful of minor amendments have been proposed to County Executive Tom Gordon's spending proposal for the coming fiscal year that begins July 1.
But that doesn't necessarily mean the budget will pass quietly on Tuesday. Smiley has peppered the administration with questions about spending through the past two months. On Tuesday, he will seek to pull back spending on an outside grant writing program scheduled to be paid some $90,000 next year.
Smiley claims the outside grant writer hasn't produced results and will seek to pull its funding for the coming fiscal year in an amendment that will be voted on by council.
There is also a chance Smiley may railroad the budget proceedings altogether. Questions about the external grant writer are a few of many Smiley says the administration have failed to answer during the budget process.
He previously threatened to use his powers as finance chairman to stall the budget legislation until he gets his answers. On Tuesday morning, he said that is still a "big option."
Prior to the full-council meeting Tuesday night, the council will also hear a proposal to split its computer and email systems from Gordon's oversight. This follows months of what observers have called "email wars" between county administration and Council staff.
Gordon and his staff have the ability to review all emails on the county system. He said the ability is used to review particular topics, not specific mailboxes. He said the practice exists because the previous county executive, Paul Clark, didn't keep proper records – and some records were destroyed.
Council members have argued for protecting the privacy of constituents that send her complaints and other sensitive information. Gordon's critics on council say oversight of email can be used to dig up political dirt on his council foes. They cite the current trials of County Auditor Bob Wasserbach are an example of how the authority can be abused.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
CONNECT
COMMENTEMAILMORERead or Share this story: delonline.us/1HufAXiTOP VIDEOS
01:28

01:21

00:34

01:00

01:25

01:08

00:51

01:36

01:12

00:54相关的主题文章：


http://www.hx.sakura.ne.jp/~hato_ya/cgi-bin/frogbbs_play.cgi

http://66.147.252.84/p10/mkakikomitai.cgi

http://bbs.xixisd.com/showtopic-10170325.aspx

http://studio-elephant.com/cgi-bin/chat/chat.cgi

http://bbs.goec.com.cn/home.php?mod=spacecp&ac=blog&blogid=&WebShieldDRSessionVerify=On8JNhuq5gbYrLu4UCBg