$98 Million 5-Year Plan Topic of Ocean City Council Workshop

Ocean City, NJ -- The Ocean City Administration introduced a five-year, $98 million capital plan that council members referred to as “comprehensive” and one resident referred to as “overly ambitious,” during a workshop meeting Tuesday night at the Chris Maloney Lecture Hall at the library.

The $98,533,950 plan is $18,917,650 more than the five-year plan proposed last year. The total debt service is $10,660,459, with an annual increase of 7.5 percent over last year’s debt service. Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato offered a conservative estimate of a 4 cent increase over the next four years, with a total possible increase of $200 for the owner of a $500,000 home in Ocean City, to kick in at the end of the plan.

“If you’re paying $5,000 in taxes now, you’d be paying $5,200 in taxes five years from now,” Donato said.

He added that Ocean City is in a “unique” position, in which it expects to be paying off its existing unfunded debt of $43 million in three bond sales over the next four years. He also said the plan addresses some of the key concerns residents have voiced to the city over the past few years.

The proposal calls for the following:

• $34,566,950 for paving and drainage projects, which includes $17.4 million in road improvements for 2016;
• $20 million for beach and bay projects, including $10 million for dredging in 2016 alone, with an additional $5 million in 2017 and another $5 million in 2018. City officials will discuss this project further during a town hall meeting Monday night, 7 p.m. at the Chris Maloney Lecture Hall;
• $3,750,000 for beach projects;
• $6,430,000 in boardwalk replacements;
• $12,620,000 for work on public buildings and properties, including relocating the police station from its current location across the street and demolishing the old building. Mayor Jay Gillian said the project would result in the temporary loss of some parking spots, but would ultimately result in more spots, including in the spot where the building stands now and no loss of spots in its future location behind City Hall, once the project is complete;
• $10,910,000 for public areas-recreation and facilities;
• $5,330,500 for large equipment and trucks;
• $2,254,000 for departmental equipment;
• $960,000 for communications; and
• $1,712,500 for intermodal, transportation and parking.

“This is just a plan,” Gillian said multiple times throughout the meeting. “Nothing is set in concrete.”

Both the administration and council encouraged residents to speak with their council person about the plan and voice their opinions.

Initial opinions were voiced Tuesday night, with one resident saying the plan was “60 percent what is necessary and 40 percent nice to have projects.” He also asked why the administration proposed a five-year plan as opposed to a three-year plan.

“The first three years are hard years, meaning these are things we’re certain we’ll do,” Council President Keith Hartzell said. “We like to go out five years because people want to know what we’re doing in their neighborhood, on their roads and we want them to be able to see it.”

He said they introduce a list each year, fine tune it, and add a year.

The cost attached to last year’s proposal was $79,616,300. Recent plans have been so high in price and comprehensive in scope because they’re trying to get the big projects off the table, Donato said.

“There will be no $95 million plan for the next five years,” Donato said. “This is tackling a lot of things.”

Councilman Michael DeVlieger defended the inclusion of pickleball courts and other recreation projects being included in the plan.

“Safety, health and the environment are the most important, but we are a business, we’re a tourist attraction,” DeVlieger said. “Tourists don’t come for that. We do need parks. We’re America’s No. 1 Family Resort, and we have to invest in that. We have to continue to be top notch.”

Tuesday night’s presentation and summaries of the proposal are currently posted on the city’s website.

To view the full plan, visit ocnj.us.