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Ocean Pines faces roughly $300K water-and-sewer bill surge; board offsets most with modest assessment rise
Summary
Finance staff told the Ocean Pines board a sharp increase in county water and sewer fees is adding roughly $300,000 to the association's costs for 2026–27, driven by higher service and accessibility fees and a new bay restoration charge; the board offset some of the cost and adopted a modest assessment increase.
General Manager John Viola introduced a finance presentation showing that new county charges for water and sewer will significantly raise association costs for the coming year.
Steve Phillips, Ocean Pines’ senior director of finance, said the association historically budgeted about $90,000 for water and sewer expenses but “incurred $263,000,” and that for the 2026–27 budget a full‑year pricing structure produces an estimated $300,000–$310,000 impact. "So you can see bottom line, I have $310,000 in the estimate," Phillips said, tying the roughly $310,000 figure to several new county charges.
Phillips broke down the increase: higher service fees (the EDU rate rose to $209 per EDU), an accessibility fee charged for unconnected EDUs (about $177 per unconnected EDU), and a bay restoration fee tied to water quality. He said Ocean Pines has about 287 EDUs for service-fee calculations, roughly 80 unconnected EDUs and about 44 mailbox-lot EDUs that together produced a large accessibility-fee bill. Phillips summarized the current estimate as “about a $10,000 potential exposure” beyond the $300,000 estimate.
President John and the GM said the board offset some costs with savings and additional revenue, reducing the assessment increase the association applied this year. Phillips noted the $310,000 estimate equates to about $19 on the assessment; GM John Viola said the board set a $15 assessment increase in the adopted budget after offsets. The association also expects a possible reduction in county debt-service fees that Phillips estimated could lower that line by about $18 per EDU next year.
Why it matters: the jump in utility-related charges materially affected Ocean Pines’ adopted 2026–27 assessment and budget planning. Board members praised management for identifying offsets and keeping the overall budget favorable: the GM reported a year-to-date favorable variance and healthy reserves despite the utility shock.
What’s next: finance staff said the association’s unaudited 2025–26 statements will be finalized after the external audit in July and that the board will monitor county fee changes and the impact on future budgets.
