General Fund Fiscal Year 2021 Budget

The General Fund has a Fiscal Year 2021 Budget of $163,501,049 in expenditures and $157,859,018 in revenues.

Click here for a Citizen's Guide to the Budget Process. Learn how the Budget is created and view a timeline of events.

Click here to view the FY 2021 Budget Book and here to read the FY 2021 Budget Ordinance.

Click here for a glossary of terms used in this page and the FY 2021 Budget Book.

FY 2021 Budget Highlights

The FY 2021 General Fund operating budget is $163,501,049 – down $3,886,690 or 2.3% from FY 2020.

The City is projected to lose almost $13.6 million in revenue in FY 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to balance the budget in anticipation of this loss, the Administration and City Council worked together to reduce expenditures by millions of dollars, without cutting vital services or laying off employees. To cover the remaining shortfall, City Council authorized the transfer of $5.4 million from the Tax Stabilization Reserve.

Despite significant reductions in expenditures, the budget still includes funding for many important initiatives and programs, including:

A $1 million grant to the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank, per a memorandum of understanding, to help the Land Bank acquire, manage, and maintain vacant, abandoned, and foreclosed properties to restore and re-purpose them into productive use.
Funding of $617,300 ($417,300 in the General Fund - $200,000 in the Water/Sewer Fund) was included in the budget to complete implementation of the City's comprehensive 311 information call center and constituent service request tracking system. The 311 system, which is now available, enables residents to call one number (311) for all non-emergency requests for service and information about City services and programs. Click here to learn more!
To continue Wilmington's Beautiful City Initiative, $400,000 was allocated to Real Estate & Housing to support the day-employment clean-up program for a third year. This program hires local residents to clean streets and neighborhoods, giving them an opportunity to earn money throughout the summer while providing an important benefit for the entire City.
In the Police Department, $312,000 was added to expand and enhance the neighborhood camera watch program. Ten additional cameras will be placed in neighborhoods of the City currently not included in the program.

Click here for more FY 2021 Budget Highlights.

Breakdown of FY 2021 Budgeted Expenditures by Type

Breakdown of FY 2021 Budgeted Expenditures by Department

General Fund Staffing Levels Over Past 5 Years*

*Note: City staffing levels are measured in units of full-time equivalents (FTE). Many positions in the City are split-funded, which may result in a fractional FTE. For example, a position could be funded 60% from the General Fund and 40% from the Water/Sewer Fund, resulting in a 0.60 FTE in the General Fund.

Breakdown of FY 2021 Budgeted Revenues by Type

Overview of Budgeted Revenues

General Fund revenues are budgeted at $157,859,018 in FY 2021. This is a net decrease of $11.8 million, or 7.0%, below the FY 2020 budget and a $13.6 million reduction from the pre-COVID-19 proposed revenue estimate.

Wage & Net Profits Tax, the General Fund's largest source of revenue, is projected to total almost $66 million in FY 2021. This is a decline of about $6.6 million from the pre-COVID-19 projection and $4.6 million from the FY 2020 budget.

Property Taxes, the General Fund's second-largest source of revenue, are projected to total $42.1 million, a decrease of $773,000 from the FY 2020 budget. This is down more than $1 million from the pre-COVID-19 projection. Despite the projected loss of revenue, there is no Property Tax rate increase included in the FY 2021 budget.

Other Taxes, which include Franchise Fees, Real Estate Transfer Tax, and Head Tax, are projected to total about $6 million. This is a decrease of about $1.5 million from FY 2020.

Licenses, Permits and Fees, revenues are expected to come in at about $3.4 million, a decrease of about $1.2 million from FY 2020.

Fines, which includes revenue from Criminal Fines remitted by the State, Instant Tickets issued by the Department of Licenses & Inspections, Red Light Tickets, and Parking Tickets, are projected to be about $8.2 million, a $988,000 decrease from FY 2020.