Licenses & Inspections details vacant-property work, animal-control contract and staffing plan

Commissioner Pabon and OMB presented the Department of Licenses and Inspections’ FY2026 proposed operating budget of $3,800,000 at a Wilmington City Finance Committee hearing that resumed after a break. Commissioner Pabon described priorities including stronger vacant-property enforcement, improved permitting documentation and continued digitization of records.

OMB analyst Mr. Naheed said the Licenses and Inspections operating request represents a 1.8% increase from FY2025 driven primarily by mandated step increases, modest temporary staffing for digital scanning and small equipment purchases. The department requested $10,000 in temporary agency support for archive digitization and $2,000 for a commercial-grade shredder.

Commissioner Pabon told council the city collected about $954,000 in vacant-property fees in FY2024 and roughly $851,000 so far in FY2025; he said billing for the current cycle is not complete until November because of verification work and recent fee changes. He reported that as of Nov. 1, 2024 the city identified 894 vacant properties across owners including the land bank, Wilmington Housing Authority, the city, nonprofits and private owners; 765 of those are privately owned. The department has been running annual pre-bill verifications and is redeploying inspectors to create a vacant-property team focused on faster outreach and enforcement.

Pabon described the property-maintenance process: an inspector documents hazards, a contractor is called to abate immediate public hazards (boardings, trash removal, shoring), inspectors verify completion, then the city bills the owner. He said the city has recouped roughly $300,000 via property-maintenance billing over the last three years and that property-maintenance requests and 311 complaints numbered in the hundreds across recent years.

Council members pressed the department on enforcement levers, sheriff’s sale and the relationship with the land bank and suggested better communication with neighborhood groups. Commissioner Pabon said the department will recommend properties with large unpaid balances for sheriff’s sale when owners fail to respond and that the law department handles nuisance-property legal work. OMB staff noted that placing Licenses & Inspections’ unpaid balances into the city utility-billing system will make outstanding debts more visible and easier to pursue.

The department also outlined animal-control arrangements and pest contracts. Pabon said animal control services are provided by a three-year contract with Delaware Animal Services (through June 2027) and that the city paid about 1,700–1,800 animal calls in recent years. For pest and vacant-property wildlife work the department uses contractors such as Will’s Pest Control; the department said contractors are engaged on an as-needed basis for vacant properties and that land use and planning also contracts Will’s for some demolition-related pest mitigation.

On staffing, Pabon said Licenses & Inspections has 18 inspectors covering the city and will move from 27 census-area assignments to eight districts with a redeployment that creates dedicated vacant- and rental-focused inspectors for each team. That redeployment is intended to speed vacancy verification and rental-inspection rotations. Pabon said there are no proposed position changes in the FY2026 budget and that the department is not planning virtual inspections.

Council members asked for more detailed contractor lists, more robust vacant-property mapping, clearer rules about owner types (individuals vs. LLCs) and better public outreach; multiple council members also urged the department to anticipate demolition-driven rodent problems and consider targeted pest-control contracting for neighborhoods with heavy demolition work. No formal votes were taken during the hearing.

The committee asked Licenses & Inspections to provide a more granular breakdown of consultant/contractor line items, to share the vacant-property inventory and owner-type analysis, and to coordinate with the land bank and finance on sheriff’s-sale and collections follow-ups.