Ocean City Council Makes Final Call On $76.8 Million Budget

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The talking is over and now the work can begin. Or at least, the source of funding is in place. As Ocean City Councilman Michael DeVlieger reminded residents Thursday night, council will consider each proposed capital project and the public will have a chance to weigh in before work can actually begin on anything.

What is certain is that Ocean City Council took a step towards completing its various capital improvement projects with final approval of the $76,884,368.93 budget Thursday night.

The municipal budget includes a 2.85 percent tax rate increase. The average homeowner will pay an additional $143 in municipal taxes annually, which translates to about an extra $36 a quarter.

The overall increase in the bottom line from 2016 to 2017 would be $1,414,870.14, an increase of about 1.87 percent. The tax increase is to help with a number of proposed projects throughout the island. Last month, city council unanimously approved a bond ordinance on second reading to appropriate $12,182,500 and borrow $11,573,375 in bonds and notes for various improvement projects throughout the island.

“It all needs to be done, and this is all good,” DeVlieger said. “We vote on all these projects again before they get going. We’ll be involved. We’ll make sure our money is spent well and these projects are a success.”
“Last year, I knocked on 3,000 doors and heard people say a variety of things were needed,” said Councilman Bob Barr, whose Fourth Ward will benefit from much of the work set forth in the city’s capital improvement plan. “We have to keep a watchful eye, but this budget is a good start for the needs of the Fourth Ward that have been ignored for so long.”

He said that while he was concerned with the amount of money being spent on vehicles, even if all new vehicles were removed from the budget, there would be very little impact on the tax levy.

“The time is right to do the capital projects we’ve neglected for a long time,” Councilman Keith Hartzell said. “We are spending our money judiciously. Not everything will get done this year, but we are working on every aspect in every area of the island. Our taxes are well enough that we can sustain this. When we’re gone, I think people will look back on this and realize this capital work needed to be done.”

“We’re all rowing our boat in the same direction,” Council Vice President Anthony Wilson said. “Ocean City as a whole comes first. This is a great project list. These are things people wanted the most. We’re doing work everywhere throughout the island.”

Councilman Antwan McClellan likened the budget to just ripping off the band aid, getting all the work that was needed done at once. Councilwoman Karen Bergman said being able to see the results of what taxpayer money was being spent on is a very important thing.

One Ocean City resident spoke during the public hearing. Marie Hayes questioned a 2 percent raise for public employees.

“Most people I know haven’t seen a 2 percent raise in years,” Hayes said.

Hartzell said that public raises are due in part to state statute. He said decisions over paid for public employees goes through the unions, and not giving them a raise isn’t possible. He pointed to the recall election Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker faced in 2012, after a collective bargaining dispute with the unions the year before.

“You have to negotiate with the unions,” Hartzell said. “If you go into arbitration, you end up spending more money than you would have.”

“Until I sat in this seat, I didn’t realize how many restrictions there were,” DeVlieger said. “There were some changes. If you talk to any firefighter or police officer, they’d probably feel like they didn’t get everything they wanted. I think we would’ve liked less and they would’ve liked more, and I think that means it’s fair.”

Council gave unanimous approval to both the budget and the accompanying ordinance that allows the the city to exceed the municipal budget appropriations limit and establish a cap bank.

This year, the state says municipalities may only increase their budget by 0.5 percent, one year after that number was 0. The ordinance allows municipalities to increase that limit to 3.5 percent over the previous year’s final appropriations, and bank the difference for future budgets.

This year, 3.5 percent amounts to $1,908,981.31. The city never uses that money, but during the budget introduction on March 24, Ocean City Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato said that if the state continues to set that number at 0 and 0.5 percent, it may become necessary for Ocean City to do so in the future.

To view the user friendly budget, visit the Financial Management page of the city’s website.

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