By Logan B. Anderson

DOVER — The third and final fiscal year 2025 budget bill, which passed the General Assembly on Sunday, includes funds that will impact Delawareans at many levels.

The grants-in-aid bill, Senate Bill 327, provides state funds to support nonprofits that offer various services.

The measure, which unanimously passed both the state House of Representatives and the Senate on Sunday, totaled $98,498,026.

Of that, $34,521,948 was awarded to government units and senior centers; fire companies and public service ambulance companies received $11,634,433; and veterans' organizations were awarded $698,220.
The bill also appropriated $51,643,425 in one-time awards to other community agencies.

“I'm very proud of this,” Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, said from the Senate floor Sunday. “We made it very clear that we wanted to do something significant for fire companies, and we wanted to really take care of our senior centers,” he added.

Each fire company in Delaware was awarded $100,000, plus senior centers saw a 5% increase in their funding.

The bill also awarded $1 million to each county's paramedic services.

“The third piece of the grants-in-aid bill is all the community partners that we have, which is now over 300 different nonprofits, that are out there providing critical services in our community. These nonprofits are truly the boots on the ground,” Sen. Paradee added.

Those groups include agencies that provide food for seniors, activities for children and support for those fighting addiction.

Many funded by SB 327 also focus on quality-of-life issues and work to educate and entertain Delawareans. This sector of the bill contains funds for things like museums and heritage foundations.