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Ocean View proposes balanced FY27 budget, holds tax rate steady and seeds $1.4M stabilization fund
Summary
At a March 3 workshop, Ocean View staff presented a balanced FY2027 budget that maintains the current tax rate, proposes a $7.065 million operating budget and $3.9 million capital program, and would seed a $1.4 million tax‑rate stabilization trust with water‑sale proceeds; council will consider an ordinance March 10.
Ocean View staff told the town council at a March 3 workshop that the proposed FY2027 budget is balanced and would not require a tax‑rate increase if approved. “If supported by Mayor and Council, the tax rate for FY '27 will remain at 0.2578 per $100 assessed value,” the presenter said, and displayed a proposed operating budget of $7,065,000 and a capital program totaling $3,900,000.
The proposal includes a 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment for employees, a new pay scale for sworn officers following a total compensation study, and contractual increases for senior managers. Staff also said they expect savings of about $30,000 after moving health coverage to the Delaware Valley Health Trust on July 1.
A key one‑time resource behind the draft is proceeds from last year’s sale of the town’s water distribution system. Staff said the sale allowed the town to retire water‑related debt, boost two trust funds by $300,000 each, and earmark $1.4 million to seed a new tax‑rate stabilization trust. “We will utilize the 1.4 million from the water system sale proceeds to seed fund the tax rate stabilization trust fund,” the presenter said, and added that the trust could provide up to a two‑cent tax‑rate credit in a future year to smooth sudden rate changes.
The administration said the ordinance creating the stabilization trust will be introduced at the March 10 council meeting. Staff described guardrails for the fund: invested long‑term, replenishment during the code‑required five‑year full town reassessment, and a recommendation that use not exceed two cents of the tax dollar in a given year. If unused, the fund simply remains invested.
Staff projected an FY27 unassigned fund balance of about $2.1 million and emphasized that only secured grants were included in the five‑year outlook. The capital program targets streets, sidewalks, parks, drainage improvements and equipment; staff said some projects could be funded by grants or through a borrowing plan discussed later in the meeting.
Council members raised several clarifying items during question time. Staff clarified that the estimated cost to complete a full reassessment for FY27 is $175,000 (part of a larger $250,000 line item shown elsewhere in the draft) and said staff will continue evaluating whether to adopt Sussex County assessments and will recommend a course of action by August after resolving data mismatches. One council member flagged an apparent inconsistency in a chart reporting senior‑living statistics; staff committed to follow up with the data source.
The workshop also resolved a pair of drafting errors in the fee schedule: the assembly/community event fee will read $25 for gatherings of 50 or more (the draft had an incorrect higher number), and staff said park rental fees could be set at $25 for town property owners and $50 for non‑residents if council desires.
Next steps: staff will introduce the stabilization‑fund ordinance on March 10 and return with final budget documents and any recommended refinements. The borrowing discussion that followed was informational; no borrowing motion or vote was taken at the workshop.
