FENWICK ISLAND – Officials with the Town of Fenwick Island have agreed to send a letter to their state legislators opposing a proposed house bill that would impose an 8 percent occupancy tax on lodging.
In a town council meeting last week, Mayor Gene Langan requested the council approve the letter after hearing of the bill in an Association of Coastal Towns (ACT) meeting.
“I want to ask the council to approve the Town of Fenwick to write a letter in opposition of House Bill 130,” he said.
According to Langan, House Bill 130 is proposing an 8 percent tax on hotels, motels, tourist homes and short-term rental properties. He said the taxes placed on top of the town’s existing occupancy tax of 7.5 percent would be a large burden to both owners and renters.
“I know people pass it onto their renters,” he told the council, “but think about some of these homes around here and how much money that’s going to add onto it.”
According to the mayor, the proposed bill was a solution to garner additional state revenue.
“The town is not going to get the benefit of this,” he said. “This is a proposal to help the state balance their budget. One percent of the 8 percent will go to DNREC (the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control), which is not much.”
Langan said as of last week the Towns of Bethany Beach and South Bethany have already sent letters to Delaware’s legislature and urged the Town of Fenwick to do the same.
“I really think it’s something we need to do because I don’t think it’s fair to residents and I don’t think it’s fair to the hotels,” he said.
The council voted 6-0, with Councilwoman Julie Lee absent, to send a letter of opposition to state legislators and those sponsoring the bill.
The council last week also heard from Langan about the town’s efforts to improve its technology and cell service.
“We want to have the town management move forward with discussions with specifically cellphone providers about the lack of coverage in town,” he said.
Langan, chair of the town’s technology committee, said the group was looking to pursue talks with Verizon Wireless to improve cell service in town.
“Let me give you a caveat,” he said.
“This does not include allowing any cell towers on commercial buildings or on residential buildings.”
The mayor explained residents often had dropped calls and that police officers would lose service on their mounted computers.
“The coverage is just not that good in town,” he said. “They’ve done some work in Ocean City and what they are doing is putting cell towers on top of telephone poles and if you look you can see them.”
Langan said that by talking with the state’s vendor Verizon, the town could solve some of its connectivity problems and work toward a solution that would better suit the town.
“Maybe we put it on poles or maybe have a tower here in town,” he said. “We are going to move forward with that and come up with a recommendation to bring back to the council.”
