JULY 31, 2025
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
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Berlin loses challenge of Dollar General assessment State reaffirms reduction in property’s assessed value
TARA FISCHER/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
PAGE TURNERS The Friends of the Ocean Pines Library hosted its annual book sale last weekend, where thousands of paperback and hardcover books were sold at a low price. Browsers from Saturday morning are pictured as they scope out this year’s immense selection.
Residents push for sidewalks Speed, distracted driving make pedestrians worry on Old Ocean City Boulevard By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (July 31, 2025) Town of Berlin officials say they are working toward placing sidewalks along Old Ocean City Boulevard to enhance pedestrian safety and walkability.
Residents from the neighborhoods near the road flocked to the Berlin mayor and council’s meeting on Monday to implore the town to make real progress towards establishing walkways along the busy, and oftentimes dangerous, street. Residents said many drivers speeding down Old Ocean City Boulevard are distracted and careless, and encouraged town officials to work towards creating pedestrian paths be-
fore someone is injured. “There are a lot of distracted drivers on that road,” said Matthew Stoehr, the chair the Berlin Planning Commission. “You go down that side of that road, it is full of beer bottles and mini liquor bottles. It is not a great road. We are getting to a place where someone will get hit and we will be reacting to it, instead of trying to get ahead of it.” See RESIDENTS Page 3
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By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (July 31, 2025) The Town of Berlin’s effort to appeal a property tax assessment of Dollar General, which yielded a reduction in property value of more than 20%, failed as the state tax office affirmed the lowered valuation. In May, Wayne Hartman, owner of the property leased to Dollar General on Decatur Street, complained to the Berlin mayor and council about their appeal of his assessment. Hartman, who represents this area as state delegate to the Maryland General Assembly, said he learned of the town’s appeal in a letter from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. In a hearing last week in Snow Hill, the Tax Assessment Appeals Board for Worcester County affirmed the existing $1.8 million assessment. In a July 23 letter spelling out its reasons, the board said it “finds from its examination of the condition of the improvements, the lease, the location and the derived net income that the value proposed by the assessor is appropriate.” The town appealed the $1.8 million assessment because it was $491,000 less than the property had been valued for tax purposes, and that reduction translated into a $4,000 reduction in the town’s tax bill to Hartman. On May 12, during public comSee STATE Page 4
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