www.issuu.com/oceanpinesprogress
January 2016
443-359-7527 Thompson proposes $22 assessment increase in budget
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Thompson unveils new draft of capital improvement plan Proposed spending would approach $30 million over ten years, but a proposed new administration/public safety building would send the price tag well beyond that By TOM STAUSS Publisher new iteration of a ten-year capital improvement plan prepared by General Manager Bob Thompson was distributed to the Board of Directors Jan. 4, the same day he gave out copies of his draft budget for 2016-17. While the proposed $13.7 million budget for the new fiscal year beginning May 1 is noteworthy because it calls for a $22 increase in the lot assessment, in some respects it is overshadowed by his new draft CIP because of its audacious vision of capital projects that total about $29.5 million in estimated cost from 2016 through 2026. Perhaps the most stunning proposal contained within the draft CIP is for a new administration/public safety building, to include new facilities for the Ocean Pines Police Department, a new Southside firehouse, a command center for emergency coordination, along with new offices for the OPA administration. Thompson envisions the OPA’s two-acre site on Route 589, in front of the post office and library and adjacent to Taylor Bank, as the site of this new building. Another component of Thompson’s vision: The existing Administration building in White Horse Park would be configured into larger and smaller meeting rooms once the administration relocates to Route 589. The Community Center’s Assateague Room would be converted into a fitness center, with men and women’s locker rooms, with show-
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ers, replacing the Community’s Center’s kitchen and a bathroom. Thompson also envisions moving the Pine’eer Craft Clubhouse in White Horse Park to the Community Center’s Marlin Room. In short, the Community Center would become a center of active recreation. The draft CIP’s ten-year financial worksheet contains no cost estimate for this new administration/public safety complex, but it would likely send the total cost of Thompson’s proposed spending plan well in excess of $30 million within the next ten years should OPA policy-makers support incorporating it into the CIP. The draft CIP, as well as Thompson’s proposed capital project for 2016-17, includes $75,000 for police center planning. That $75,000 could be an initial step in moving toward this concept if Thompson can convince at least four directors that his idea has merit. Thompson is using his draft CIP to push for his “community fitness center” idea. He’s attached a $350,000 cost estimate to it in fiscal year 2019. There are no cost estimates for renovating the existing Administration building, although Thompson suggests it could be done mostly with in-house Public Works Department labor. The draft CIP updates a version of it last completed by Thompson in November of 2014, in which roughly $18 million in potential capital spending was identified over a ten-year period. That version was never officially approved by the Board of Directors, was never the
subject of a town meeting, or even addressed in any meaningful way by the directors. The last time an OPA board took an official vote on a version of a CIP was June of 2012. In his 2014-15 term as OPA president, Dave Stevens attempted to jumpstart a CIP process that he hoped would lead to a revised CIP, but it fell well short of the goal of a completed CIP draft. Thompson was explicitly excluded from day-to-day involvement in the Stevens-led process, with facilities manager Jerry Aveta interacting with Stevens and Thompson supposedly updated by Aveta on a regular basis. With the 2015 board election resulting in a factional shift on the board and Stevens out as president this past August, there was no indication that Thompson or anyone else was continuing work on a new CIP draft. The emphasis instead seemed to be on a new reserve study. The board chose Design Management Associates to assess the condition of OPA assets including roads, bulkheads, the golf course and other OPA assets, including the Country Club and Beach Club. In early 2016, DMA is supposed to deliver what’s called a capital reserve management system to the OPA as part of its contract. It’s a computerized interactive program that, once operational, will give the OPA unprecedented facility component replacement projections, allow the OPA to establish priorities for To Page 16
General Manager Bob Thompson is proposing a $13.7 million budget for fiscal year 2016-17, including a $22 increase in the base lot assessment but no proposed increases in amenity fees. He presented the Board of Directors with copies of the draft budget book in a short meeting at the Country Club upper level on Jan. 4. The budget, including the proposed assessment increase, is far from a done deal. ~ Page 18
Thompson proposes Community Center design changes Much of the “meat” in General Manager Bob Thompson’s latest iteration of a capital improvement plan for Ocean Pines concerns his ideas for changes in the Community Center, relocation of the Pine’eer Craft shop, and perhaps the most ambitious proposal of all: a new administration/public safety building to be constructed on the Ocean Pines Association’s two-acre parcel on Route 589 in front of the library and post office, adjacent to Taylor Bank. Although all of these proposals are a long way from seeing the light of day, Thompson is using his draft CIP as a way of promoting his vision for Ocean Pines. ~ Page 15
Reassessments show Pines property values begin slow climb Property owners in Ocean Pines are among those in northern Worcester County who are finally seeing an increase in the assessed value of their lots. Overall, Worcester County experienced a moderate increase, at 9.4 percent, in the assessed value of residential and commercial properties as part of a tri-annual reassessment by the state, according to state-wide assessment data released on Dec. 29, 2015. ~ Page 9
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