January-Early February 2013
Vol. 8, No. 10
410-641-6029
www.oceanpinesprogress.com
Pines property values recede in reassessment
THE OCEAN PINES JOURNAL OF NEWS & COMMENTARY COVER STORY
Proposed OPA budget for 2014 calls for $43 assessment increase, 5 percent hike in amenity fees General Manager Bob Thompson’s proposed budget, compared to this year’s expected results, projects roughly $400,000 in additional spending year over year. By TOM STAUSS Publisher cean Pines Association General Manager Bob Thompson’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year beginning May 1 and continuing through April of 2014 calls for a $43 base assessment increase and a five percent increase in
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most amenity fees, those that haven’t seen any change in the past five years. Under the proposed budget, assessments would increase from $873 to $916. The draft budget, subject to change and final approval by the board of director in February, proposes a departmental budget of $9,667,408 in revenue and expenses, actually slightly less than the approved budget for the current fiscal year. Because both actual departmental spending and revenues are falling well short of budget in the
current fiscal year – the forecast is for an operational loss of $355,465, or $385,262 if new capital additions are included – Thompson’s proposed budget represents significant increases in spending and revenues over the latest current projections. The current year’s approved budget called for revenues of $9,696,342 in revenues and $9,623,793 in expenses, but the current forecast is for only $8,986,595 in revenue and $9,269,521 in expenditures, reflecting considerable shortfalls in golf operations and, to some extent, in Yacht Club food and beverage operations. Poor results in golf operations, with revenues not even close to original expectations, explain most of the predicted red ink for the current fiscal year, Thompson has said. Thompson’s proposed budget, compared to this year’s expected results, projects roughly $400,000 in additional spending year over year. If the board of directors is to make any cuts in what Thompson and his staff are proposing, it probably would come out of those proposed increases and the assessment dollars associated with them. The draft budget, made available to members of the board of directors in early January and the subject of a special board meeting Jan. 9, will be reviewed in detail by the budget and finance committee on Jan. 14 and 15 at the Country Club, beginning at 9 a.m. Meetings are open to the OPA membership. The board will follow suit on Jan. 24 and 25 at the Country Club beginning at 9 a.m. All of these meetings are open to the To Page 22
Property owners in Ocean Pines are among those in northern Worcester County who are once again seeing a drop in the assessed value of their lots. Worcester County experienced one of the largest decreases in Maryland, at 14.3 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. 28, 2012. That 14.3 percent decline in values was recorded during the 2012 property reassessment, which included Ocean Pines and Berlin, and will be phased in over the next three years. /Page 3
Casper explains half million dollar loss in golf ops Executives from Billy Casper Golf, the management company hired more than two years ago to operate the Ocean Pines golf course, are trying to defend and explain a projected half million loss in golf operations this fiscal year while offering hope that the firm will be able to deliver on a significant turnaround in Fiscal Year 2014. The attempted defense and explanation occurred during a special meeting with the Ocean Pines Association’s board of directors held on Jan. 8 at the Ocean Pines Country Club. /Page 8
Finances, firearms likely to dominate General Assembly Worcester County’s representatives in the Maryland legislature headed back to work in Annapolis during the first week of January for the 2013 session of the General Assembly, which is expected to include debates about increasing spending, increasing the gas tax and gun control. Prior to the Jan. 9 start of the session, District 38B Delegates Michael McDermott and Norman Conway and District 38 Senator James Mathias attended a plethora of legislative preview events designed to give community members and business leaders an idea of what their elected officials will be working on during the next three months./Page 25