Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer today announced an agreement in principle to settle a seven-year-long dispute between the city and county governments regarding the cost of sewer service charged to the county by the city for processing sewage from New Castle County homes and businesses at the city of Wilmington’s wastewater treatment plant.
The Mayor and County Executive reached a tentative agreement on Friday afternoon after recent discussions and exchanges of information from experts in the field. Most of the recent talks were between the two chief executives themselves – both of whom sought a solution to a dispute between the two governments involving multiple Administrations.
“I express my gratitude to the County Executive for his personal engagement on an issue that has defied resolution for far too long,” said Mayor Purzycki.
“I am thankful for the time and consideration Mayor Purzycki gave to resolving this issue,” said County Executive Meyer. “The agreement we came to is fair and equitable for both city and county residents and likely saved millions of dollars of legal fees that would have come from the sewer fees paid by residents across the County.”
The Mayor and County Executive said they are comfortable enough with the tentative settlement that they have agreed to postpone formal arbitration, which was to have taken place beginning this week, as a means to try and settle the matter. All things considered, the two executives said the agreement represents a fair allocation of costs and responsibilities between the governments and should pass the test of time preventing further disputes.
City and county staff will now work together to finalize an agreement that will be presented to the Wilmington City Council and the New Castle County Council for approval.
Once finalized and approved, the governments will be aligned for the next decade regarding the costs and responsibilities for both governments regarding the processing of sewage.