The City of Milford will hold a referendum to construct a new water tower on Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 10 Am to 6 PM at the Public Works building, 180 Vickers Drive, Milford. This referendum will not raise property taxes or utility rates, but will give the city permission to borrow $8.5 million, paid over 20 to 30 years, for the design, engineering and construction of a water tower in northeast Milford.
“The bonds shall be paid or funded primarily from accumulated water impact fee reserves and anticipated water impact fee receipts,” the resolution authorizing the referendum read. The wording states that the city will not need to increase taxes or utility rates for this as water impact fees are expected to cover those costs over the next 30 years.
The city charter requires a referendum if it will take more than five years for the city to repay the loan. Borrowing for longer than ten years requires the approval of residents in the city.
This proposed project includes a new drinking water supply well, treatment facility, distribution pump system and elevated water storage tower,” Lauren Swain, Public Information and Community Development Director, said. “The project provides a critical source of safe drinking water as well as storage in the northeast quadrant of the city’s water system.”
Swain explained that the northeast quadrant has been targeted for a new water tower due to pressure issues. The location is also advantageous due to the availability of high-quality and quantity of groundwater in the area, which will benefit the entire city of Milford water system.
“Some of the project costs will be covered by existing water fund reserves in order to reduce the amount borrowed,” Swain said. “Concerns that we will raise taxes if the referendum passes are not true as the wording in the resolution states we will use current and future impact fees to cover the cost.”
Currently, the city has approved 5,240 new homes, condominiums and apartments that are expected to be constructed over the next five years. Each single-family home in Milford is required to pay a $3,594 water impact fee. If all of those units are constructed, it will bring in $18,832,560 in impact fees, more than covering the amount borrowed. In addition, residential units pay one water impact fee as it is considered one dwelling unit. Commercial buildings are rated at higher dwelling units, or EDUs, which means they will pay higher impact fees.
“Our broker, Emory-Hill is actively marketing the Miflord Corporate Center with a lot of interest in our community,” Swain said. The Milford Corporate Center will be comprised of businesses bringing high-paying jobs to the city and those new commercial buildings will pay the higher EDU costs.
There are members of the community who believe that if the referendum does not pass, the city will have to halt construction of the new corporate center and not approve additional development in the area. Swain stated that this was false information.
“If the referendum does not pass, newly constructed buildings would be required to install booster pumps which are costly. We would also have a fire safety issue due to the quantity of water available in an emergency.”
According to the city, some of the water infrastructure in town is over 100 years old. The water tower that currently exists in north Milford is no longer pumping significant amounts of water which is lowering water pressure. There are areas of town who are dealing with silt in the water due to the low pressure, including the Delaware Veteran’s Home and Delaware Hospice.
“Water pressure at the Boys and Girls Club, Food Bank of Delaware, Delaware Hospice and the Delaware Veteran’s Home is dangerously low,” Mark Whitfield said. “We are very concerned that if there is a serious fire in one of those buildings, putting it out would be difficult.”
Without the new water tower, the fire company could be forced to rely on tankers from other departments as Carlisle Fire Company does not have a tanker truck. That could mean delays in getting water to a fire at one of those locations. The closest fire companies with tanker trucks are Slaughter Beach, Bowers and Houston.
For more information about the referendum, contact Swain at 302-725-2068 or 302-382-9198. You can also email her at [email protected].
