FILE PHOTO
Doug Parks
By Josh Davis, Associate Editor
(Jan. 31, 2019) It didn’t take long for news of the second-largest assessment increase in Ocean Pines history to hit social media, where reaction was, unsurprisingly, negative.
A press release and statements from General Manager John Bailey on Friday showed a proposed increase of $127 per homeowner in the recommended budget, which is essentially the second-to-last draft before final approval.
On Saturday, a post on the “Ocean Pines Exchange” Facebook page quickly caught fire and had more than 60 comments as of Monday afternoon. Some suggested halting all new spending while the association is still paying off $1 million in debt, while others said Ocean Pines had never done a good job of using assessment dollars to fix ongoing problems like drainage and general maintenance.
Many pointed to the public budget hearing on Saturday, at 10 a.m. in the community center, as a time to give the board of directors a piece of their minds.
The Ocean Pines Board of Directors on Monday released a statement that the latest budget numbers – including the large assessment surge – were not yet final.
“The budget that has been shared with the membership is the recommended budget presented by the GM for the Board’s consideration and is by no means the final budget,” the statement said. “The Board is evaluating a number of items included in the capital expenses, reserve contributions and salary adjustments. Other considerations are being given to the priorities of major projects and the expense associated with among other items, drainage, deferred maintenance, deficit recovery and road reserves.
“The intent is to determine what our operations team can realistically be expected to complete in the upcoming fiscal year, and only fund those initiatives in this budget. As a Board we fully expect additional changes to the recommended budget as we continue our review and make these determinations.”
The statement added the budget hearing on Saturday would serve to “review the recommended budget, explain the projects and work associated with the noted expenses and get feedback from the membership.”
“We encourage everyone to share their thoughts on the budget by attending the meeting on Saturday the 2nd or via email at directors@oceanpines.org,” the statement said.
Association President Doug Parks on Monday went one step further, saying, “I will go on record as saying I’m not going to support a $127 increase in the assessment.”
“We’ve got to do a better job in prioritizing and funding accordingly,” Parks said. “There’s a lot of scrutiny that the board needs to do that’s directly related to that big of an increase in the assessment.
“Personally, it’s certainly something that’s aggressive … but I can’t see trying to pin the kinds of things that we want to do solely on the association,” he continued. “I’d rather do it in a much more conservative fashion and really take a closer look at true needs, versus needs that may be not as high priority as others.”
Parks said he understood the public opposition to the increase, including some criticism that placed the blame on the board of directors. The Jan. 4 “proposed” budget developed by General Manager John Bailey did not include an assessment increase, while the “recommended” budget developed with board input incorporated a near-record assessment hike.
“I can’t control how people perceive and where they want to place blame,” Parks said. “Maybe it was a little premature to presume there wasn’t going to be any changes in the budget but, as in past years, it’s a process. Things go through several iterations, starting with the GM and staff, then you’ve got the budget and finance committee, then you’ve got the board, and then you’ve got the final re-review after that.
“Remember, it goes from draft, to proposed, to recommended, to final,” he continued. “Those are the four iterations of the process and we’re at the recommended stage and, certainly by the press release that the board just sent out, this is not a final budget.”
Parks added, “just speaking for myself, I can’t see us increasing the assessment by that much.”
“The press release hopefully synthesizes some of the things that may be on [the membership’s] mind. I think the most important thing is to just make sure they understand there’s a lot of other areas that we’re looking at – we’re not just sitting on our hands going, ‘Oh well, it’s $127,’” he said. “That’s not what we have been elected to do.
“We have to look at prioritizing, understanding the financial toll on those priorities, and [come up with] a reasonable approach on what can and cannot be done – in other words, setting expectations,” Parks continued. “It’s great to say I can get 10 projects done and we’re going to fund them all, but … I wouldn’t want to be in a position at the end of the fiscal year to say, ‘Well, we started 10 projects, we finished one, nine [will be done] at some point, but we’ve charged everybody for it.’
“I’d rather charge everybody for one or two projects – or two or three projects – that we know we can get done, rather than four or five or some number greater than that,” he said. “I’d rather under-promise than over-deliver.”
Parks also said comparisons to dues paid by other homeowner’s associations could be valid, but difficult to quantify because of the unique nature of Ocean Pines.
“I think it’s difficult to try to compare a 100-unit high rise with an 8,452-unit small city that has public works, a police department and a lot of other things that really don’t relate,” he said. “It’s a reasonable question – I would just want to make sure that we classify the comparisons directly.”
As for the budget overall, Parks said there was still “a lot of work to be done.”
“I’m not happy that we are where we are,” he said. “There’s a lot of intent there and my goal is to turn that intent into something that is far more pragmatic.”