Public Hearing On $76.8 Million Budget In Ocean City Thursday Night

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The public hearing and final vote on Ocean City’s proposed $76,884,368.93 budget is set for Thursday night. Council will weigh in on the budget, which includes a tax rate increase of 2.85 percent, on Thursday night, April 27, 7 p.m. at city hall. If the municipal budget is approved, 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 improvements.

Along with the budget, Ocean City Council is expected to give final approval to a proposed 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.

City council will also be asked to express interest in a currently unimproved strip of land a resident intends to build a sidewalk on.

Jane Anderman owns a home adjacent to the empty piece of land, according to the agenda packet posted on the city’s website. The city owns the land, but Anderman proposes buying the land for $24,035, putting a sidewalk on it, and donating it to the city for no cost. She would take on the cost of the construction.

The land is worth $25,300. The cost to install a sidewalk reduces consideration of the property. The land is smaller than the minimum size required for development by the city, but is needed for public use. There is one other home adjacent to the land, but the owner of that property didn’t respond to the city’s offer.

The proposal will be presented to city council in the form of a proposed ordinance on introduction Monday night.

There are also 13 items on the consent agenda.

To view the full agenda, visit ocnj.us.

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