OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.NET
APRIL 4, 2014
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
SOFTBALL
BIG WIN The Stephen Decatur softball team earned a 5-2 victory over the Parkside Rams Tuesday in Berlin–Page 31
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First budget draft hikes OC property taxes by one cent Funds needed to support salary, benefit increases, new surveillance system
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OCEAN CITY TODAY/CLARA VAUGHN
Weeks Marine workers pump sand from nearly three miles offshore onto the beach near 94th Street Wednesday as part of Ocean City’s beach replenishment project. The project started in early 2014 and is expected to run through May.
City looking to buy Hall properties Deal would enable building of new OCBP headquarters, secure ‘modern block’ idea
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (April 4, 2014) The land deal that will enable construction of a new Ocean City Beach Patrol headquarters, as well as secure the Ocean City Development Corporation’s “model block” ambitions, is on the table for a grand total of $816,000. City Council heard and passed the first reading of two ordinances related to the measure last week, with final passage expected Monday. The first finalized a property transfer that will have the city take possession of OCDC’s lot on the corner of Talbot Street and Philadelphia Avenue, while OCDC will get the lot at Dorchester and Philadelphia that houses the current OCBP building. That building will be vacated after the coming summer, as the city will
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By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (April 4, 2014) City Council heard the first draft of the town’s 2014-2015 fiscal year operating budget this week, with City Manager David Recor’s financial plan hinging on a proposed one cent tax increase above the constant yield rate, as well as a windfall $1.3 million savings from bus fare changes. These are needed to support another $1 million hike in salary and benefits expenditures, as well as more than $270,000 to support the new “City Watch” Boardwalk surveillance camera system. Tuesday’s presentation served as a starting point for elected officials’ review and revision of the budget prior to its final passage next month. The Mayor and Council’s first budget hearing was scheduled yesterday afternoon, after press time. Critically, this week’s proposed budget would raise the city’s property tax rate to 48.04 cents per $100 of assessed value – one penny more than the 47.04-cent rate calculated to bring the town the same real-dollar revenue as the 2013-2014 fiscal cycle. The total assessed value of the city’s taxable properties fluctuates every year, due to the phase-in of triennial state re-assessments. Thus, every year, the state provides to the city a tax rate – known as the constant yield rate which has been calculated to bring in the same total dollar value of tax revenue as the previous year. The city’s tax rate for 2013-2014 was 47.2 cents, but due to a 0.33 percent increase in property value, the town would receive the same $41.9 million in tax revenue for 2014-2015 by charging 47.04 cents. However, the extra penny above constant yield will give the city an See TAX Page 4
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be building a new OCBP facility on the Talbot Street lot that is slated to be ready by the 2015 season. The second ordinance authorized a $216,000 down payment, and a sixyear mortgage of $100,000 per year, to the Hall family for the purchase of their two lots on the northwest corner of Somerset Street and Baltimore Avenue, on the same block as the current OCBP building. “This was the result of two years of negotiation and a lot of hard work by OCDC,” said Councilman Joe Mitrecic. Funding for the purchase will come from inlet parking lot revenues, roughly 10 percent of which are allocated every year for OCDC. Since it does not have taxation powers itself, the city’s allowance is the group’s most consistent stream of revenue, and the inlet lot earns roughly $2.1 million per year. With the exception of two small lots on the northeast corner, this will create a publicly owned block be-
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tween Dorchester and Somerset Streets and Baltimore and Philadelphia Avenues, where OCDC hopes to design a mixed-use project that will enable downtown renewal. The project will then be marketed to an outside developer for construction. More vibrancy downtown, in theory, will mean more parking at the inlet, and more meter revenue. “All of the monies that come from the proceeds of this will essentially go back to the city via the inlet parking lot fund,” said OCDC President Bob Givarz. The main impetus for the city in the deal was a readily available space to build a new OCBP headquarters, instead of knocking down the current facility and having to rebuild over a short time. The present beach patrol building is actually the city’s former police headquarters, which was abandoned by the Ocean City Police Department in 1991 when the Public Safety buildSee OCBP Page 9
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