After months of delays and revisions, the Milford City Council finally put a new fee on rental housing to a vote Monday night.
The ordinance will put a $50 per year fee on each rental unit inside the city limits, with the money going to hire a new code enforcement officer to enforce home building and safety codes.
“This ordinance came about because of living conditions within our city,” council member Katrina Wilson said. “I’ve had major concerns and complaints within the fourth ward that I’ve had to contact our city’s enforcers about…we had to do something.”
It passed 7-1 despite vocal opposition from city landlords, with Michael Spillane as the only dissenting vote.
“I feel as though it’s not the right time to bring this up,” he said.
Irv Ambrose, John Workman, Wilson, James Starling, James Oeschler, Doug Morrow and Owen Brooks voted for it.
“It has worked in other places that I’ve lived, and over time it will pay for itself,” Workman said.
He added that, if possible, he would like to see the beginning of the program delayed by a year to allow landlords to prepare for the fee, as well as hopefully allowing the current economic recession to pass.
“I do want to make sure that we will see positive results as a result of this ordinance,” Ambrose said.
The council approved a fee of $50 per rental unit per year. Other amendments to the law include: allowing a 48-hour waiting period after a city official requests entry for inspections, bringing the law in line with state policy; clearly defining “rental unit” to exclude hotels, halfway homes and bed & breakfasts; and waiving the $100 penalty for denying a city inspector access to a property if it’s done for reasons beyond the landlord’s control – for instance, if the tenant won’t give permission for someone to enter.
If landlords choose to pass on the fee to their tenants, it works out to a rent hike of $4.17 a month, assuming that they are collecting rent from every unit they own.
The law makes no distinction for vacant properties.
“I think it’s great that there is an ordinance on the books so properties will meet a certain standard…but this is not the time to hire someone,” said Renate Wiley, a Milford landlord who will owe over $1,000 a year in extra fees.
Wiley said that, especially in the current economic climate, many of her renters don’t have the money to pay an extra fee.
Spyro Stamat, a Lincoln resident who rents out property inside Milford and has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the new law, called the council “addicted to spending.” He said higher fees risked raising the cost of living in Milford to the point where natives can’t afford to stay in their hometown.
“Where’s the concern to bring jobs, to keep your sons and daughters here?” he said.
Per-unit rental fees are fairly common in Delaware cities. Out of eight towns surveyed by the city earlier this year, six – Georgetown, Harrington, Smyrna, Dover, Millsboro and Selbyville – all use them, with an average fee of about $53 per unit. Seaford and Bridgeville were the two that have no such charge.
Next, the council took its first concrete step forward on a project to revamp Northeast Front Street and bring it in line with the historical district just a few blocks away. The vote went 8-0 to spend $38,600 on engineering studies.
The only catch is that a quarter-million dollars in funding that Downtown Milford Inc. has secured for the project could evaporate if it’s not sued by this June. That means going from the planning stages to actually starting construction in less than seven months, which won’t be easy.
“We have a timeline from (engineering firm) Davis, Bowen & Friedel, and it’s going to be very tight,” DMI President Scott Angelucci said.
Getting the money to complete the project is another hurdle. The work is estimated to cost $851,000, City Manager David Baird said, and it can’t start with only DMI’s money in place.
“In order to award that contract, all the funding has to be identified,” he said. “We need to move as quickly as we can to find other sources for another $500,000 to $600,000.”
Angelucci said the burden won’t be solely on the city. He said he has spoken with local General Assembly members to negotiate
The next order of business was the city’s board of adjustment, a three-member panel that has the power to grant variances to the city’s zoning code – if, for instance, a property owner wants to put in a sign larger than the legal maximum, or
According to City Solicitor Tim Willard, state law lays out a three different options for how a city can put together its board of adjustment, but the makeup Milford uses – the city solicitor, mayor and city manager – is not on the list.
The law does allow for a board of mayor, solicitor and city engineer, and the current arrangement was made before City Engineer Mark Mallamo was hired. Moreover, the city charter – approved by the General Assembly – allows the council to appoint the board “by statute,” which Willard said could be argued to mean that they don’t have to follow the state law at all.
Spillane and Workman said the city should take the opportunity to remake the board with private citizens as members, instead of staying with only city employees.
“I’d just feel better if it was five people from the city,” Spillane said.
Workman proposed a board of two council members, two Milford citizens and Mallamo.
“Overall, I think that’s a fair board,” he said.
Under the city charter, appointing anyone new to the board requires passing an amendment to the zoning code, a process that takes months. In the meantime, Willard said, the board can continue to meet as usual.
Finally, Mallamo reported that the Washington Street bridge over the Mispillion River, now 75 years old, is showing its age – it can no longer safely hold vehicles over 18 tons, and he recommended replacing it entirely.“The bridge is safe. It’s not going to fall down…We’ll have signs up soon warning people about the reduced load rating,” he said. “But you’re not going to get another 75 years out of a repair.”
Repairs would cost over $500,000, he said, while a new bridge would cost $707,000. But under a federal roads program the city could end up paying just 20 percent of the cost of a replacement – about $140,000.
“There’s a long line for new bridges, so we should get on the list now,” he said.
It could take up to three years to get federal funding for a new bridge. School buses will not be affected by the new weight restriction; most weigh in between 13 and 15 tons, well under the safe maximum.
Milford, Del. —
