City Council gave final approval Thursday to a $73.1 million budget that asks Ocean City taxpayers collectively for 3.31 percent more than they paid last year.
The net effect to individual taxpayers is a 2.16 percent increase in the tax rate. The owner of a $500,000 home can expect to pay an additional $43.25 for the municipal portion of their 2015 tax bill under the new budget.
The town benefits this year from a $114.8 million increase in the ratable base — with more real estate value to tax, the impact on individual property owners is moderated.
The budget passed in a 5-1 vote. City Council President Tony Wilson was not present. Councilman Pete Guinosso cast the dissenting vote.
Guinosso said he was disappointed that the city did not do more to find savings within various cost centers in the budget.
“I’m not prepared to vote for this, because I don’t think we’ve done a good job,” Guinosso said.
In public comment, Ocean City resident Michael Hinchman echoed the same sentiment.
“I see very little visible display by the council to challenge how we run our city,” Hinchman said.
That new budget includes a local tax levy $46,275,387, a $1.48 million increase over last year.
The overall budget of $73,134,639 is up by 4.27 percent from 2014. But that figure is affected by one-time grants and reimbursements, such as $1,241,000 in New Jersey Historic Trust grants (for City Hall, the Transportation Center and the U.S. Life Saving Station at Fourth and Atlantic) and a $950,000 reimbursement from FEMA for Superstorm Sandy damage.
Salaries and wages covering 258 full-time employees account for $29.6 million in the budget. This figure represents a $914,000 increase over 2014, mostly due to scheduled increases within contracts.
The city payroll hit a high of 297 full-time employees within the last decade and bottomed out a few years ago at 250.
The city also is in the midst of an aggressive capital improvement plan that calls for borrowing and spending $79 million over the next five years.
Because debt service and certain other appropriation are excluded from the formula, Ocean City falls “comfortably below both state-mandated caps,” Ocean City Finance Director Frank Donato said.
See full budget detail below. The file is also linked at oncj.us/finance.
