Let's imagine a Sussex County Council that works on behalf of its residents. Currently, council mostly functions as a gatekeeper for developers – and it holds those gates wide open, waving them in.
A county council working on behalf of the residents would think about building roads and alternative transportation systems before bringing in more population. Instead, we build houses and bring people first, and so all of us languish in stalled traffic and hope that an ambulance or fire truck can somehow get by.
A county council working on behalf of residents would probably work with local school administrators to bring in more funding for the schools. It isn't just retirees who move here: every year, the school population in Cape Henlopen district grows by 200 pupils. That growth creates a need for eight or 10 new classrooms and teachers every single year. Over the past several years, funding might have been accomplished by allowing the state's voluntary school assessment plan to work here in Sussex, as it already does in New Castle and Kent counties. The VSA would charge an impact fee on some brand-new housing (not low-income housing and not for 55-plus communities) which would be paid either by the new buyers or by the developers themselves. Imagine: a developer selling a million-dollar house would pay about $10,000 per house to cover school costs. This would hardly drive the developer into poverty! And it would not be a tax on existing residents, but would, in fact, keep taxes low. But sympathetic as always to the developers, Sussex County Council members voted it down. Mark Schaeffer was particularly vocal in opposition, penning a misleading op-ed in this newspaper.
With this election, county council may gain a new voice; a voice skilled in advocacy and determined to do better by the residents of our county, not only the developers. Jane Gruenebaum was the founding president of Sussex Preservation Coalition, and in just a couple of short years, she helped grow it to 4,000 individuals and 30 organizations. If elected, she'll lead an effort to make all our voices heard. If you've had enough of the status quo, if you think it's time for change, if you're feeling the pain: vote for Jane.
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