Budget Comparison: City of Rehoboth Beach vs. City of Lewes

July 17, 2026

This question has come up quite a bit recently, so we want to be able to provide answers.

A comparison of the overall budgets for the City of Rehoboth Beach and the City of Lewes demonstrates substantial differences in both the size and structure of each municipality’s operations. A key distinction between the two municipalities is the inclusion of enterprise operations. Rehoboth Beach budgets for both Water and Wastewater enterprise funds, generating $8.2M and $12M respectively. Together, these enterprise funds account for approximately 40.3% of the total budget, reflecting the City’s responsibility for providing utility services. In contrast, City of Lewes budget consists primarily of its General Fund, with utility operations administered separately through the Board of Public Works rather than as part of the City’s budget.

General Fund revenues are also significantly different in scale. Rehoboth Beach budgets $29.9M in General Fund revenue compared with $13.8M for Lewes, making Lewes General Fund approximately 46.1% of Rehoboth Beach General Fund. Despite substantially larger overall budget for the City of Rehoboth Beach, property taxes play a much smaller role in funding municipal operations. Rehoboth Beach budgets $2.7M in property tax revenue, representing approximately 10.3% of total revenues, while Lewes budgets $3.1M in property tax revenue, representing approximately 22.8% of its total revenues. The Lewes property tax rate is $.285 per 100, which is roughly 3.7 times greater than Rehoboth’s at $.0775/100. In addition, the taxes due on $1M of property value in Lewes is $2850 versus $775 in Rehoboth. The comparison demonstrates that Lewes relies considerably more on property taxes as a source of municipal funding, while Rehoboth Beach derives a larger share of its revenues from tourism-related and enterprise activities. Parking and rental-related taxes are the two most significant tourism-driven revenue sources for the City of Rehoboth Beach and illustrate one of the greatest financial differences between Rehoboth Beach and Lewes. The City of Rehoboth Beach budgets $10.6M in parking revenue, compared with $1.5M for the City of Lewes. A similar pattern exists with rental and accommodation taxes. Rehoboth Beach projects $4.9M in revenue from lodging and accommodations, while Lewes budgets $1.2M or 23.9% of the City of Rehoboth total.

Capital investment also differs between the two municipalities. Capital expenditures represent approximately 27.2% of Rehoboth Beach total budget, compared with 9.9% for Lewes. This indicates that Rehoboth Beach dedicates a substantially larger share of its annual financial resources toward capital improvements and infrastructure investment, driven in part by its utility systems and broader municipal service responsibilities.