Ocean City Budget Introduction Set For Thursday Night

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian is set to introduce the proposed budget to council Thursday night. Ocean City Council will meet on Thursday night, March 22, 7 p.m. at City Hall, 861 Asbury Avenue.

On Feb. 22, Gillian presented the $79,981,465.08 draft budget to council while giving his State of the City Address. It carried a tax rate increase of just under a penny.

The owner of a $500,000 home in Ocean City could expect to pay an extra $50 in municipal taxes in the upcoming year if the proposed draft budget passes without any changes. That would come out to an increase of about $12.50 per quarter. The draft budget itself is $1,194,254.70 — or 1.5 percent — more than last year's municipal budget.

Ocean City Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato gave a presentation on the budget at the March 8 meeting. Once introduced, council will have the budget for about a month before the public hearing and final vote.

In conjunction with the introduction of the budget, Ocean City Council will consider a proposed ordinance on introduction to exceed the municipal budget appropriations and establish a cap bank. This allows Ocean City to increase its budget up by 3.5 percent over last year’s final appropriations, as opposed to the 2.5 percent cap, and bank the excess. This year, Ocean City would be permitted to bank $1,981,782.85.

Ocean City Council will also consider a proposed ordinance on introduction that would alter some of the fees associated with the use of electric golf carts. The cost for an electric cart rental would change from $20 per round to $10 per player, per round.

The final proposed ordinance set for introduction concerns amendments to city ordinance concerning background checks for employees and volunteers.

The amendments for both proposed ordinances can be found in the agenda packet.

There are also 13 items on the consent agenda. To view the full agenda, visit ocnj.us.

Image via Shutterstock