Two of Delaware's bigger beach communities are looking to raise additional funds through either extending their parking fee seasons or increasing rates.

Bethany Beach is expected to vote next week on whether to increase its parking rates for the second time in three years, this time from $3.00/hour to $4.00/hour, after jumping from $2.50/hour in 2022.

Meanwhile, Rehoboth, which went to a $4.00/hour rate last year, is considering extending its parking fee season for the second time in three years, to cover more "shoulder season" events, including the ultra-popular Sea Witch Festival.

At a January budget hearing, Bethany was considering just a $0.50/hour increase to $3.50, which at the time they said would raise an additional $649,000, when permits and parking tickets were increased by the same percentage, with parking tickets increasing from $50 to $60.

A late February budget hearing, which the town has not provided audio online, apparently led to doubling that increase to $4.00/hour, mirroring Rehoboth as the highest in the region, with Dewey and Ocean City, Maryland coming in at $3.50/hour, and Lewes charging $2.50/hour for its Delaware Bay beach.

Ocean City is proposing a potential jump to $4.50/hour, as they would also move entirely to mobile pay, removing parking kiosks entirely.

In a statement, the Bethany said "t he proposed increase in the parking rate will ensure that summer visitors and renters cover the cost of providing summer services so that our residents are not."

Bethany is expecting to see their operating budget increase by 9.4% to $12,975,000.

In Rehoboth, they currently are planning no parking changes for the 2025 season after upping rates last year, but they are looking at ways to increase revenues without boosting the rate, and also dealing with a parking problem during its biggest non-beach event of the year.

Assistant City Manager Evan Miller said Rehoboth's businesses have struggled in the weekdays leading up to the late October Sea Witch Festival, because all the Rehoboth Avenue parking spaces become gridlocked.

"We see folks parking days in advance of the Sea Witch Festival because they want to receive a good spot on Rehoboth Avenue so they can park their car and tailgate for that event."

Currently, Rehoboth sets up the parade barriers on Friday, effectively blocking in whatever vehicles are in place until after the Saturday parade.

One suggestion that appeared to get traction was to keep parking free during the week, but to try to prevent people from blocking spaces, ban overnight parking on Thursday night, therefore eliminating the incentive to lock in a spot on Monday.

Sea Witch weekend brings an estimated 200,000 people to Rehoboth, easily the biggest non-Summer event in the city.

Rehoboth is also starting to discuss how they might continue to increase parking revenues going forward, looking at 32 responses from the Downtown Rehoboth Advisory Task Force Meeting held last month.

At issue was adding time before the May 15 and after the September 15 current cut-offs for parking fees, putting them closer to what Ocean City has with their April 1-October 31 season.

Meeting attendees received four different options, and were asked to rank them 1 (Best) to 4 (Worst).

Rehoboth Beach/Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce President Carol Everhart helped oversee that meeting, and said she was surprised half of the respondents were okay with some level of shoulder-season parking fees, especially if compared to increasing parking rates in the peak of Summer.

"I was surprised to have some businesses tell me that, in the off-season, having the meters on on the weekend would not be as detrimental."

No decisions were made at the Rehoboth Commissioners meeting on either topic, although a decision on the Sea Witch Festival, which could affect this October's event, could be looming in April.