Because one of those things is called "the operating budget"...the cost of doing business...fixed cost, equipment usage and repair, and salaries. The other is called "debt service" the interest they must pay on money loaned to them to build new infrastructure...and a lot of that was inherited by the City of Wilmington. Despite them repeating this ad nauseum...folks are dim, I guess.

The budget for the first has been going down...the rates have increased to cover the second. Capiche?