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MARCH 20, 2015
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Commissioners silent on OC’s tax deal memo No action taken other than not sending rejection letter
STEWART DOBSON/OCEAN CITY TODAY
Ocean City workers remove pedestrian safety barriers from Coastal Highway Saturday morning after the St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled because of public safety concerns about hazardous weather conditions.
No parade, but it didn’t rain on business
By Zack Hoopes Staff Writer (March 20, 2015) Apart from the fact that it didn’t happen, Ocean City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade worked out exactly as hoped. What would’ve been the 34th iteration of the Delmarva Irish-American Club’s signature festival on Saturday ended up rained out. But a number of local businesses reported seeing above-average
crowds, as would-be parade attendees flocked to bars and restaurants to make the most out of a damp St. Pat’s. “It was actually a great weekend,” Greg Shockley, owner of Shenanigan’s Irish Pub, the city’s historically busiest establishment over the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, said. “The parade attracted a lot of people, and then unfortunately was cancelled, so they were all looking
for a place to go. The day definitely started earlier than usual.” In fact, at least one local bar decided to start pouring beer at 10 a.m., immediately after it was announced that the parade, scheduled to begin at noon, would not be going off. By that time, a fair number of revelers and vendors had already arrived at the 45th Street Village parking lot, which serves as the paSee ST. PAT’S page 4
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (March 20, 2015) The assumption, following the Worcester County Commissioners’ discussion Tuesday of Ocean City government’s request for more money, is that county and resort officials will meet at some point during the budget process to discuss their widely differing views on how much money should be awarded. That is only an assumption, too, since the commissioners took no action following their discussion of the memorandum of understanding presented last month by Mayor Rick Meehan that outlined how those cash grants would work. At issue is that Ocean City property owners pay taxes to the county for services they don’t receive because Ocean City government provides them locally. The sticking point, however, is the great disparity between what Ocean City says is the value of those duplicate services and the county’s calculation. Ocean City’s put the number at $17 million annually and Worcester County’s most generous estimate has been $3 million, but lately that number has been revised downward. For years, Ocean City officials have sought a “tax differential,” which essentially would be a separate and See COUNTY page 5
County scrambles for money in face of shortfall Commissioners must decide to use reserves now or wait until 2016
By Brian Gilliland Staff Writer (March 20, 2015) Worcester County’s fiscal 2016 budget book would be soaked in red ink were the
county commissioners to adopt the first draft of the spending package that agrees to every request. The budget, containing the collected requests from almost every county department and municipality, is already 660 pages long without counting the Board of Education’s proposed budget or appeals for sup-
12741 Ocean Gateway Ocea an City, MD 21842 410-2 213-1733
port from local nonprofits, county staff said. The budget request total of $189.8 million exceeds by $22 million the county’s project $167.4 million in revenue in the coming year at the current tax rate. According to county Treasurer Phil Thompson, Worcester has $17 million
socked away in stabilization funds that can be used at the commissioners’ discretion, but that figure includes about $6 million already earmarked to fund the current year’s budget. Stabilization funds are the last to be spent, Thompson said, so once traSee RESERVES page 3
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