By ERIC AVEDISSIAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Mayor Jay Gillian will present the proposed 2020 municipal budget to city council on Thursday, Feb. 27.
“We are a Faulkner Act form of government here in Ocean City,” said city Financial Management Director Frank Donato. “Under that form of government the mayor by a certain date each year must present a budget to the city council that really starts off the process.”
The mayor will also present his State of the City address, hitting on particulars in the budget including tax increases and financial performances and goals and objectives for the coming year.
“We hand out the state document with the mayor’s proposed numbers and it’s accompanied by the speech,” Donato said.
The city will present the five-year capital budget on March 12.
“The capital plan we present every year is a five-year outlook for capital expenditures, items you can expect to see as part of bond ordinances throughout the year,” Donato said.
He said the capital plan contains costs for major construction projects including Boardwalk projects, lagoon and bay dredging, roads and drainage projects, municipal equipment, vehicles, and building improvements.
“That one always seems to get more attention than the operating budget,” Donato said of the capital plan. “It’s more tangible.”
Donato said he’ll present the operating budget on March 26 to council.
The operating budget contains city employee salaries, expenses, insurances, pensions, and debt service figures to pay back capital expenditures.
“It’s everything to keep the lights on, on a day-to-day basis,” Donato said.
According to Donato, the state provides dates for council to introduce and adopt the municipal budget and when mayors should present the proposed budget to their councils.
“We had until March 12 to give the mayor’s transmission of the budget to council, but we’re opting to do it on February 27 so we can get into the presentations throughout the month of March,” Donato said. “Hopefully, what we can do is maybe look to introduce the budget at that second meeting in March after my presentation.”
He said the budget would be formally adopted April 23, after a public hearing.
Council would take no action on the budget April 9 because the budget has to be advertised for a full 28 days before it could move from introduction to adoption, Donato said.
He noted that the proposed budget’s “bottom line” is similar to last year at around $80 million.
In a public letter Feb. 21, Gillian wrote that the city team was “putting the final touches” on the proposed municipal budget.
“I also look forward to delivering my annual State of the City address on Thursday,” Gillian said. “We continue to invest in citywide infrastructure improvements while delivering responsible budgets to our taxpayers. These investments – particularly in roads, flood mitigation and drainage – will help us prepare for the future.”
Donato echoed that the city has focused its emphasis on capital improvements.
“We feel as though that’s what the residents and the taxpayers have been really focusing on is improving the infrastructure of the town and getting some aging infrastructure back up to speed,” Donato said. “That’s been our goal, to try and fulfill those requests.”
In 2019, council approved a $78.8 million municipal budget that didn’t include a tax increase.
The local purpose tax for 2019 was 45.9 cents per $100 of assessed value, meaning the owner of a $500,000 home would pay $2,295 in local taxes.
The budget’s tax levy increased by 1 percent, or $620,000.