Why Should Delaware Care?
No municipality has been dissolved in Delaware in more than 100 years, but some residents of Greenwood, a small town in Sussex County, are lobbying for such a seismic change after raising concerns about the town’s management.
Long-simmering tensions in the tiny, farming town of Greenwood are playing out publicly as a group of residents are calling for the town government to dissolve and its land to become part of unincorporated Sussex County.
Residents proposing the idea of disincorporation say the town government is secretive, running out of money, and not providing citizens with adequate services for the taxes it collects. Among those critics are some members of the town government, including the town council and planning and zoning commission.
Jordan Warfel, a Greenwood resident who serves on the town Board of Adjustment is leading the charge for disincorporation. Warfel described dissolving the town government as an opportunity to get “better services for fewer taxes.”
But other town leaders strongly dispute these arguments.
They say residents suggesting disincorporation are a small, misguided subset of Greenwood’s population, who don’t understand that the government is on a financially sound path, and is working on the spending and revenue issues that have plagued its past.
Town Councilman Dan Nelson wrote in a message to Spotlight Delaware that disincorporating Greenwood is an “extreme idea” and he does not understand why any town resident would support it.
The movement to disincorporate is an unusual one, with state records indicating that the last time a Delaware municipality became unincorporated was in 1921, according to Mark Cutrona, director of the state’s Division of Legislative Services.
To dissolve, a town would have to petition Delaware lawmakers to approve the municipality’s disbandment.
But it is not entirely clear whether the group of Greenwood residents have the leverage to push state leaders to that end. Also unclear is how citizens’ lives would change in practice if they became a part of unincorporated Sussex County.
Cristina Gomez-Vidal, a University of California Riverside professor who studies unincorporated communities, said she has found that residents often believe they will get more professional governance under the county, rather than a smaller jurisdiction. But they often end up lost in the bigger county conversation, she said.
“There is no obligation from the county to specifically respond to unincorporated communities and their specific needs,” Gomez-Vidal told Spotlight Delaware.
She added that this effect could be magnified in a place like Sussex County, which prides itself on keeping taxes low, and, as a result, has a relatively lean county government.
The disincorporation movement
Last week, about a dozen Greenwood residents gathered at the town’s popular central coffee shop to discuss the concept of disincorporation, and what it could mean for their finances, policing and government transparency.
Some were all-in on the movement to disband the town. Others said they believe there still could be a way for the town to resolve its alleged issues before disincorporation becomes necessary.
Warfel, who organized the meeting, centered the discussion around the argument that the county could provide comparable services at a lower cost to residents, because they would no longer need to pay taxes to the town.
At the same time, Warfel said he believes the town will soon become insolvent. He noted the town had roughly $500,000 in its general fund as of June 3, with $300,000 earmarked for capital improvement projects. He said that leaves the town without enough money to operate for the remainder of the year.
Warfel further asserted during the gathering that if the town ran out of money, state lawmakers could have no choice but to dissolve the town government, whether residents call for it or not.
After Warfel laid out his argument for disincorporation, some residents brought up their frustration that town property taxes have increased recently. They attributed it to what they described as a resistance by the town council to attract more businesses and people to the area.
The current property tax rate of 45 cents per hundred in Greenwood is comparable to the nearby towns of Bridgeville and Harrington – which have populations roughly three and four times larger, respectively.
Those municipal rates are added on to Sussex County’s property tax rate of 2.14 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Beyond issues of finance, Warfel also told the group that Greenwood could seamlessly transition over to receiving services like planning and zoning decisions, water treatment, police coverage and street lights from Sussex County, without having to pay town property taxes.
The Bridgeville wastewater system, which included Greenwood, was already taken over by the county in 2021.
Asked how the county would take over land use, water treatment and other services from a town, a Sussex County spokesperson said many of the specifics would require “legal research” because it is an unprecedented process.
Another resident at the meeting, Ellen Patterson, who is also a member of the town Planning and Zoning Commission, said she takes issue with how often the town council goes into executive session – or meets behind closed doors – so the public doesn’t know what they are discussing.
Patterson said she is open to the disincorporation path, but also wants to see an effort for more “real, in-depth communication” between residents and the town government before they resort to dissolving the town.
Anthony Massey, a current member of the five-person town council, was also in attendance at the meeting, and told the group he is in support of disincorporation, after having observed the way the town government functions from the inside.
Elected officials react
Some town leaders have dismissed claims of financial precarity as uninformed, and motivated by certain residents’ personal agendas.
Mayor Donald Donovan, who has been serving on the town council for over two decades, wrote in a message to Spotlight Delaware that having an incorporated town provides an important opportunity for local control over “municipal services, planning, and decision-making.”
Donovan also described it as “inaccurate” that the town is on the verge of running out of money, and said he does not believe the small group of residents pushing for disincorporation are representative of what the majority of the town’s roughly 1,000 residents want.
Nelson, another town council member, similarly said he does not understand why residents are accusing the town government of being ineffective, when “the Town is paying its bills, our Police Department is working hard to protect the residents, and our Town Staff is working with residents, developers and other interested parties every day in Greenwood.”
Nelson said he believes residents are calling for disincorporation because they are frustrated with the town council’s decision to fire former town manager Janet Todd in January.
He and Donovan have attributed the town’s challenging financial situation – including a $40,000 debt owed to the IRS – to Todd’s work as town manager.
Todd did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment about the situation.
Sen. Dave Wilson (R-Lincoln), whose district includes Greenwood, struck a similar tone to the town elected officials when asked about the disincorporation discussion.
Wilson said he has been hearing about some financial challenges in town and tensions between different groups of residents, but he does not view disbanding the town government as “the proper way to bail it out.”
What’s next?
The process for a town to disincorporate would involve taking the idea to the state legislature, where two-thirds of both the House and the Senate would need to vote in favor of repealing the municipality’s charter, said Cutrona, the Division of Legal Services director.
There are no formal procedures for what the General Assembly does if a municipality runs out of money, Cutrona explained, though the state legislators who represent the municipality would likely want to “hear from the municipality” about how to move forward.
Despite the skepticism from elected officials about the disincorporation idea, at the community meeting Warfel implored citizens to “show our local legislators” that the majority of Greenwood residents are in favor of disbanding the town by writing letters, making phone calls, and spreading the concept to more of the town.
Warfel said he also plans to have additional community meetings about disincorporation in the lead up to the General Assembly reconvening in January 2027.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
