MAY 23, 2025
STUBBORNLY LOCAL, EQUALLY INDEPENDENT
The Boardwalk Rocks Sunday night crowd is nearly wall-to-wall as over 55,000 concertgoers came to Ocean City for the weekend concert.
PRICELESS
PHOTO COURTESY BOARDWALK ROCKS
County cuts income tax rate Solid! Commissioners dig into surplus and drop homestead tax credit to zero — PAGE 14
Sheriff gets (most) of his money
—PAGE 12
Boardwalk concert rocks businesses downtown — PAGE 6
Resort’s short-term rental question will go to referendum — Page 88
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OC Today-Dispatch
MAY 23, 2025
Enjoy Enjo oy lunch, lunc ch, dinner, din nner, Drinks D Drinks & ocean o cean breezes br reezes with h the best best view w in town! town! o
806 6 South Atlantic Atlantic Avenue Avenue v • ocean ocean city ocea Free e Parking Parking a underneath un nderneath t
MAY 23, 2025
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OC Today-Dispatch
Council adopts FY26 budget with same property tax rate By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (May 23, 2025) City officials this week adopted a $181.8 million budget for the coming fiscal year. On Monday, the Ocean City Council voted unanimously to adopt its spending plan for fiscal year 2026. The budget includes a general fund of $119.9 million and capital projects of $3.4 million. For the coming year, officials have set the property tax rate at 44.26 cents per $100 of assessed value, or the same tax rate set in the current year. That rate is above the constant yield rate, or the rate needed to produce the same revenue as the year prior. As a result, the city is expected to collect an additional $5,593,058, as property assessments have increased from last year. In total, the city has budgeted $53.9 million in property tax revenues for fiscal year 2026, which will fund 45% of the general fund budget. The bulk of general fund expenditures have been allocated to public safety, which includes the police and fire departments, beach patrol and emergency preparedness. As adopted this week, the police department budget has increased $1.8 million, representing the city’s final offer to the police union before it was decided both parties would move forward with arbitration.
Make This u o The Year Y
Of that number, $1 million would go to additional pay and $500,000 would go to the purchase of 10 take-home police vehicles. Should a third-party arbitrator side with the police union, the budget will have to be amended to reflect additional pay and benefits for the department. The balance of general fund expenditures are divided among general government ($5.8 million), public works and beach maintenance ($7.9 million), sanitation ($8.4 million), highways and streets ($7 million), tourism ($15.1 million) and recreation ($5.5 million). Money will also be allocated to several other funds, including the airport, transportation and convention center, to name a few. The remainder of the city’s spending plan includes the city’s enterprise funds, standalone accounts that are self-sustaining through fees paid by consumers. This includes water, wastewater, the convention center and more. The budget also allocates $3.4 million in capital projects, including $1.8 million for street paving, $1.5 million for the capital maintenance fund and $100,000 for Boardwalk redecking. Pay-as-you-go projects, funded through the capital maintenance fund, include the 4th Street parking lot expansion, canal dredging, Northside Park improvements, and city hall renovations, among others.
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