Address lists accomplishments, future plans; he has ‘easiest job in world’
OCEAN CITY — Mayor Jay Gillian presented a glowing report in his 14th annual State of the City address Thursday, providing a virtual laundry list of things accomplished over the past year, work to be done in the coming year and the many things that make the resort so special.
Overall, he said, the state of the city is strong and he plans to make it better.
He prefaced his remarks that began the Ocean City Council meeting March 14 by saying his is the “easiest job in the world” because tourists pack the resort each summer, the downtown is “booming,” real estate values are “soaring” and living here is a “bargain” because of the tax rate.
“The city team works tirelessly to maintain infrastructure, expand services, protect public safety and preserve the quality of life that draws us all to Ocean City,” he said.
Nearly midway through his fourth term in office, the mayor noted the myriad challenges over the past 14 years including the pandemic, hurricanes, inflation and catching up on improving infrastructure, something that had been neglected in previous administrations.
“I will always remain committed to making Ocean City better,” he said, noting the ongoing “aggressive” capital improvement plans that have impacted areas across the resort and include flood mitigation and pumping station projects that haven’t stopped all flooding but have improved life in flood-prone neighborhoods.
On that note, Gillian said the work on the West 17th Street project that has disrupted the neighborhood over the past few years should be complete this spring and that work has begun on Merion Park and nearby streets.
There are plans for another project for 18th to 26th streets along Haven Avenue and a shared services agreement with Cape May County will aid Roosevelt Boulevard, both a gateway to the city and an evacuation route.
Overall, he said, most streets in the city have been improved since he took office.
Gillian said the capital plan, which includes infrastructure improvements and open space acquisition, has cost about $75 a year for a home assessed at $750,000. For that “extra $75,” he pointed out, the home values have increased hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He touched on the beach replenishment work done last year in the north and south ends of the city, a $4.8 million grant for repairs and work to improve access to the boardwalk from St. Charles Place to Fifth Street.
There will be more maintenance dredging of the bay, offset by $1.7 million in grants. The mayor said they are experimenting with a “groundbreaking concept” — a first in the state — with a deep sediment trap outside Snug Harbor to reduce the need for dredging.
As an investment in public safety, Gillian said work will begin on a new police substation on the boardwalk at Eighth Street later in 2024, followed by the “complete renovation” of the police station on Central Avenue between Eighth and Ninth streets.
Ocean City took over the Howard S. Stainton Senior Center in the Ocean City Community Center from the county in February. Attendance has been “soaring,” Gillian said, and the city’s goal is to have the costs that have been transferred onto the city fully grant-funded by the end of the year.
The café in the Community Center reopened and the pool in the Aquatic and Fitness Center will be completely rehabbed, including an ADA ramp, next year.
Supporting residents and second-home owners, the city now lets people drop off trash and recycling from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays at the Shelter Road Recycling Center.
Gillian said there will be a new state-of-the-art lighting system along the Ninth Street causeway by the end of the year, paid for with a $3 million contract by the state Department of Transportation. Other plans include completing a new terminal building at the Municipal Airport and working with the county on a new Bayside Center.
On the cultural front, he thanked maestro Vince Lee for leading the Ocean City Pops Orchestra, Ocean City Free Public Library Director Karen Mahar for leading the Friends of the Pops and Bob Rose for the Summer Concert Series at the Music Pier.
As parking woes are a popular lament from locals and tourists alike during the busy summer months when Ocean City’s population swells, Gillian said there will be a new campaign this summer called “Always a Spot” to park.
He said the city will let people know where to park and how many spots are available, facilitated by technology to give real-time updates on spaces open in the city’s municipal surface lots.
On the public safety front, the mayor touted the resort’s police and fire departments as “second to none” while noting the city maintains one of the biggest seasonal police forces in New Jersey to keep Ocean City family-friendly.
On the budget side, he noted the draft anticipates a tax rate increase of 3.7 cents, in part due to new “fair” contracts with all the city unions, rising insurance, pension and trash collection costs.
Increases in ratables — about $214 million, increasing the city’s base to more than $12.774 billion — help offset rising expenses that are needed to maintain the city’s services and amenities that residents have come to expect, he said.
Gillian also talked about maintaining open space, just as resort founders the Lake brothers did by keeping open the block-wide corridor from beach to bay between Fifth and Sixth streets. He noted that was done 140 years ago in 1884. Bringing that to his tenure in office post-2010, he cited turning abandoned gas stations along the Ninth Street entrance to the city into a park and acquiring a city block next to the Community Center.
That, he said, will create another corridor of open space.
Few other towns compare to Ocean City in what the community has to offer, he said.
“Owning a home here remains the best investment anybody can ever make. And there will never be a better place to live,” Gillian said.
Ocean City’s founders sold the first lots in town for $30 in 1880 and by the second year the average price was up to $340, he said.
The mayor said the words of William Wood in the first Ocean City Association report still ring true: “If God sends us financial success while maintaining moral integrity, we shall accept it thankfully at his hands.”
Gillian concluded his State of the City address by thanking council, his administration, the Chamber of Commerce, local businesses, veterans, volunteers — “and most of all” taxpayers and visitors “for working so hard to make Ocean City such a special place.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff