Mayor’s budget aims to improve quality of life in Salisbury

SALISBURY, Md. –  On Monday, the Salisbury mayor rolled out his plan for the 2020 budget and the big highlights were all local taxes.

“Anytime you don’t have to give more of your money to the government, I feel like that’s a good thing,” explains Scott Malone, an employee that works in downtown Salisbury.

And luckily for Salisbury residents, that won’t have to happen.

“No tax increases, no water and sewer increase.”

That’s what Salisbury Mayor Jake Day is proposing in his fiscal year 2020 budget for the city of Salisbury. It’s a $62.3 million budget that’s geared towards bettering every residents quality of life.

“That’s the idea just to make this a better place to live. That’s why we want our parks to be nice, we want somebody who lives in this neighborhood (Newton Street) to know that their kid can run across the street and be in a safe place,” explains Salisbury Mayor Jake Day.

In the proposed budget, the mayor will continue to invest in the Salisbury Zoo, community centers like Truitt Street as well as the skate park and other city parks.

Michael Elliott explains, “When I was younger coming through middle school there was no where to skate at and we’d always get in trouble, but now it’s a pretty nice skate park there,” explains

Malone adds, “I think that’s a really good thing as someone who has two kids. I think it’s always good to have stuff to do that you don’t have to pay an admission fee to. My boys love to go to the zoo and play on the playground.”

Those community resources aren’t new to the city’s budget, but they are ones that the mayor and others believe are making a positive impact on the area, since no increases are needed to continue their funding.

“It’s due to our economic growth, it’s due to our property values increasing, it’s due to, the county issues a room tax, and we’ve seen the revenues rising.”

Elliott adds, “I think as long as the mayor keeps doing what he’s been doing everything will be fine.”

The Mayor is also looking to start a new program that would help residents, who some may think are homeless, but really just don’t have a job.

The goal of the program is to give the unemployed day jobs to keep them busy and earn some money instead of panhandling.

The city has also allocated about $800,000 for the city’s firefighters. Mayor Day tells us every single breathing apparatus, the face mask and tank, desperately need to be replaced and while they’re hoping to get a federal grant they have made plans to fund them themselves.