Smyrna doubles property taxes to cover $2 million deficit

Smyrna is catching up on its audits, and the spike in taxes will help make up the $2 million that the town was short in its budget this year.

Citing the woes of inflation and healthcare costs, the town of Smyrna has doubled its property taxes to deal with a $2 million shortfall for its fiscal year 2025 budget.

Mayor Robert Johnson said the costs of healthcare, pensions, and increased salaries for town employees have been necessary to keep the town competitive in the workforce market.

The town’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Property taxes will rise from 47 cents to 94 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Johnson said the best way for homeowners to figure out what their new tax bill is would be to simply multiply their previous one by two.

The size of the average home and average tax hike wasn’t immediately available Tuesday.

The state is grappling with ongoing and long-awaited reassessments as well, which haven’t been completed in several decades and could raise property taxes even further in the near future.

Smyrna, which straddles the New Castle and Kent county line, will release its official audit at a city council meeting Monday, Aug. 5 at 6:45 p.m.

Watch that meeting here .

“We were behind with our audits for about two years,” Johnson said. “We just finished ‘22 and they’re going to start ‘23 probably within a month, and that’ll give us a better picture as to where we actually stand.”

The town council will have to approve or reject the audit at Monday’s meeting.

Johnson said an audit rejection is “not going to happen.”

He said the audit will reveal aspects of the budget and which funds had a surplus or deficit.

Specifically, he has his eyes on the water fund. The town typically allocates $3 to $5 million for the water and electric funds, and he wants to reduce that to $2 million.

The $2 million the town is short is for affects its general fund.

“The general fund is your licensing fees and property taxes,” he said, “ where the water and electric fund would be water rates, sewer and trash service rates.”

The last time the town raised property taxes was two years ago, when they were raised by about eight cents per $100 of assessed property value.

“When we raised taxes, that eliminated the deficit in the budget,” Johnson said.

The audit will be made public, and Johnson said it will give the town a much clearer vision of where it stands financially.

Still, he said Smyrna is in a good place.

“The town is really moving in a much better direction, you know. It’s not as bad as people think,” he said. “When you get the audit done, it eases a lot of pressure to get that out the way, and it really helps stabilize the town staff.”