Ventnor City adopts $2025 municipal budget after public hearing; officials cite capital needs and bond strategy

Ventnor City commissioners on April 10 adopted the 2025 municipal budget following a public hearing and questions from former mayor Tim Chryser.

The governing body approved Resolution 2025-128 to adopt the municipal budget after a roll-call vote recorded in the minutes as Commissioner Mento: yes; Mayor Creel: yes. Commissioner Lance Langraph was absent; his written statement of support was read into the record.

Chryser asked detailed questions about line items, including differences between funds labeled “celebration of public events” and “special events,” the outsourcing of code-enforcement work and lead-inspection services, a $100,000 judgments line that reflected a closed settlement with a vendor identified in the packet as CompTEC, and whether the city had acquired any property through tax-title foreclosure. City staff replied that certain services had been subcontracted (inspections and lead inspections), that the judgments line covered a closed litigation settlement tied to the new phone system, and that foreclosed tax-title properties appear on the balance sheet.

Commission leaders defended the budget as a response to years of deferred capital needs. They said recent bond issues financed infrastructure — streets, storm sewers, pump stations, boardwalk improvements and public-safety equipment — and that a planned bond sale later this year should lower borrowing costs. Officials noted the municipality’s debt increased over the past five years (reported in the hearing as rising from about 27 million to about 49 million), but they said debt service remains manageable and well below statutory limits.

The administration also described plans for a lead service replacement project in the water and sewer utility and said the city has aggressively pursued grants to reduce local spending on boardwalk and other projects. The governing body reported using roughly 59% of surplus this year to lower the tax increase; officials estimated the budget translates to about $160 annually for a home assessed at $500,000 under current assumptions.

The mayor and commissioners emphasized a financing approach that spreads large capital costs over multiple years so future beneficiaries share the cost and to avoid single-year spikes in the tax rate. The meeting record shows the commission closed the public hearing, took the adoption vote and moved on to workshop business.

The commission listed the budget adoption in its consent and moved forward with other agenda items; no further votes on the budget were recorded at the April 10 meeting.