FY 2022 Budget Hearing Comments - for P&Z and Council Budget
A comment at the FY 2022 Sussex County Budget Hearing Sussex County's population has grown from 157,000 in the year 2000 to 253,000 in the year 2020 - about a 50% increase. The data used are from the Delaware Population Consortium. It feels like the county is tearing at its seams. With this explosive growth, certain parts of the County's budget have grown accordingly. Sussex County's Fiscal Year 2022 budget is $278M. It is nearly 4 times the $74M of Fiscal Year 2000 budget. Considering the 56% inflation since the year 2000, the proposed budget is about 2.4 times that of the year 2000, 140% increase. I understand that $45.5M of this year's revenue come from the American Rescue Plan Grant Fund. So, if we remove that $46M from FY 2022 budget, it is 86% increase with the inflation considered. I looked at the P&Z Staff Salary budget, and it comes out to be 26% increase since the year 2000. We know that the work of P&Z staff has increased tremendously in the l