County Executive Marcus Henry applauds County Council on passage of FY26 Budget Package

WILMINGTON - The New Castle County Council passed the proposed FY26 Budget Package unanimously this evening by a vote of 13-0.

County Executive Marcus Henry's FY26 budget prioritizes core county services and invests in county facilities, parks and the county workforce. The budget enables the administration to focus on investments in affordable housing, economic development, youth programs, libraries and bring public safety operations to full authorized staffing.

The operating budget is a 5.62% increase over last year's budget for a total of $371,253,586, and the capital budget , which includes both General Fund and Sewer Fund projects, totals $84,374,248.

Other highlights include:

• Split residential and non-residential tax rates to ensure neither property class bears disproportionate impact from reassessment
• Tax rates rolled back to ensure revenue neutrality after reassessment
• Investments in New Castle County parks and infrastructure including:
  • $100,000 for improvements to Surratte Pool
  • $200,000 for a Maker Lab at the Appoquinimink Library
  • $500,000 for the creation of a Comprehensive Parks Plan to ensure the long-term sustainability and needs of county parks
  • $750,000 for the redesign and reconstruction of Bechtel Park
  • $22,000,000 for continued rehabilitation and replacement of the Christina River Force Main

"I am thankful to members of County Council for their collaboration as we brought this budget to reality," County Executive Henry said. "It's tough for any administration transitioning into office to pull together a budget package, but doing that while completing the first reassessment project in over 40 years presented unique challenges and I'm grateful to our partners on County Council for their help in tackling them."

With the budget's passage, tax rates for unincorporated New Castle County will be set at $0.1575 per $100 in assessed value for residential properties and $0.2380 per $100 in assessed value for non-residential properties.

The county tax rate for properties within municipalities will vary by municipality, based on the level of service the county provides. Those rates are also split into different amounts for residential and non-residential properties. A full breakdown of county tax rates for property owners within municipalities is available here.

"I'm excited to sign my first budget as county executive, but now the real work begins," County Executive Henry said. "As we look to the future, we will continue to prioritize our core county services and public safety operations, and we will look for new and enhanced revenue streams to ensure fiscal sustainability."

County Executive Henry will sign the budget at a ceremony at the Louis L. Redding City/County Building at 10:30a.m. on Thursday morning, June 12th.

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