OCEAN CITY – Mayor Jay Gillian’s proposed budget is an $88,822,023 spending plan that increases appropriations by $1.05 million, but includes virtually no increase in taxes because of increased ratables in the resort and by using $5.4 million from the budget surplus.
Although Gillian said there is no tax increase in this budget, there actually is one, albeit miniscule.
The new budget year has a tax rate of 47.26 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The prior year budget has a tax rate of 47.20 cents. That makes it a 0.14 percent – just over a tenth of 1 percent – tax hike.
The local purpose tax levy actually rises by $1.022 million to $58,121,449 in the proposed budget. However, the city’s assessed valuation has jumped by $174,560,970, putting the new total at just shy of $12.3 billion.
Overall, the new budget has an additional $1.051 million in spending, offset by the same amount in revenues. The city is using $5.4 million from its surplus to offset spending, an increase of $2.250 million from the current budget.
That will still leave $5.065 million in the surplus for future use.
The city’s budget is $3.6 million under the state cap.
The proposed budget anticipates an extra $500,000 in parking meter revenue, climbing from $2.7 million to $3.2 million; $200,000 more in beach fees, up from $3.8 million; and $300,000 more in Aquatic and Fitness Center fees, up from $400,000.
The departments that require the highest funding are police and fire.
Salaries and wages for the police department are projected at $8,839,086, an increase of $352,982. Information technology wages under the police department is at $302,000 for 2022, compared to $295,000 for 2021. There also is an extra $140,000 for police vehicles, rising to $260,000 total.
There are three sections to the fire department for personnel with fire fighting wages at $7,379,000, up from $7,033,000; rescue service wages are $238,000 down from $334,000; and lifeguard wages at $1,625,000 up $30,000 from $1,595,000.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff