We are so blessed here. I believe we all know that, and it’s never become more apparent than now -- when we see every day the awful images and read and hear all of the stories of the suffering taking place in Ukraine. Nothing I can say would do justice to the bravery and resolve of the Ukrainian people. God bless them; and let us all pray for peace.
Six weeks ago, I reported to council and the public that Sea Isle’s financial position is the best it has ever been. At that time, the municipal budget was presented to council with no tax rate increase, a record amount of surplus funds, and no increase to our water and sewer rates.
Since that time, the administration and council have conducted a public workshop on the budget, council has done their due diligence on the details of the budget; and it was formally introduced last month. Today, you’ll hold your public hearing on the budget and hopefully adopt it.
I want to commend council, city staff, and the public for working together on this process. As a city, we’ve shown time and again how well we can do when we work together. All that being said - we still have much to do.
Spring is finally here, and I think we’re all looking forward to warmer weather and to welcoming all of our friends, family, and visitors who help turn our small town into a bustling city. Our public works and community services departments have been busy maintaining the city and preparing for what we hope to be a fantastic season.
I do want to mention a challenge I expect Sea Isle will be facing this summer. To effectively do our jobs takes a lot of people; and as everyone knows, we rely heavily on seasonal employees.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve had difficulties attracting enough people to fill all of our needs, despite offering competitive wages. This problem is widespread in our region and beyond; and we’re trying to take all reasonable measures to ensure we can attract and employ the necessary amount of workers to provide all of our services.
Some folks may not realize that our workforce swells from about 100 full-time employees to well over 300 in the peak summer season. We’ve already started the recruiting process, and the budget up for adoption is sufficient to meet our needs. Moving forward, the administration will continue to update council and the public on the status of our workforce.
As always, remember, we are one Sea Isle City, and together we’ll be stronger than ever.
Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio
