Bertino moved to return excess cash to county homeowners

By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

(Aug. 6, 2026) Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino’s request this week to explore liquidating the county’s $15.2 million budget stabilization fund to provide rebates to resident homeowners failed Tuesday on a 3-4 vote.

Commissioner Joe Mitrecic responded with a lengthy, heated denunciation, at times raising his voice as he moved from objections to the proposal into personal criticism of Bertino and his motives.

“I was expecting something like this to happen,” said Mitrecic (District 7, Ocean City). “You have incredibly small-minded people that lost the election, that were voted out by the people, and you’re going to go ahead and you’re going to bankrupt the county because of that.”

Chip Bertino

Bertino (District 5, Ocean Pines) lost his bid for a fourth term in the Republican primary and will leave office when the new board is sworn in this December. He stayed quiet throughout Mitrecic’s diatribe and for the rest of Tuesday’s meeting.

Asked afterward why he remained silent, Bertino said, “I didn’t see that there was any reason to respond.”

The budget stabilization fund is the county’s rainy-day fund. Former commissioners created the account in the wake of the 2007-08 recession, when the county faced a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. It is separate from the county’s mandatory reserve fund.

Bertino asked county staff to determine whether the fund could legally be divided among roughly 12,000 properties approved for the Homestead Tax Credit and returned through one-time rebate checks. Dividing the full balance equally would amount to about $1,266 per property.

His motion, seconded by Commissioner Jim Bunting, directed staff to determine whether the county could legally issue the rebates and report back by the commissioners’ first meeting in September. It would not have authorized the county to spend the money or issue any checks.

“It wasn’t to say that we would do it, but rather that they would come back to us as to whether or not we could do it,” Bertino said after the meeting.

The motion failed with “no” votes from Commissioners Caryn Abbott, Diana Purnell, Eric Fiori, and Mitrecic. Commissioners Bertino, Bunting, and Ted Elder voted “yes.”

Bertino said he had been told immediately before the meeting that four commissioners would support his motion.

He would not identify the expected fourth vote, but said Mitrecic’s warnings about funding for commissioners’ districts appeared to affect “the commissioner that said that she was gonna vote with me.”

Mitrecic said he opposed tapping the stabilization fund and argued, if it were to be used, that the money should go toward projects benefiting a broader share of the county, including school construction, a public safety building, and water and sewer improvements.

“We need to use this money to benefit all the people of the county, whether they’re tourists, or residents, or renters, or business owners,” he said.

He also said about $11 million of the stabilization fund came from nonresident property owners in Ocean City not shielded by the Homestead.

Joe Mitrecic

“You’re talking about taking Ocean City’s nonresident taxpayers’ money and giving it to residents around the county,” Mitrecic said to Bertino. “What about the nonresident taxpayers in Ocean Pines? You know, I’m sorry you lost, but you’re going to try to cripple the county because of it?”

Mitrecic also said he would pursue legal action if a rebate were ultimately approved and warned that commissioners who supported the motion could face consequences when the board considers future funding for their districts.

“I’ll guarantee you this: Anybody who votes for this, I will do everything I can to make sure their district gets zero moving forward,” he said.

Mitrecic later connected the proposal to recent disputes between the commissioners and the Worcester County Board of Education.

“This is direct retribution against the board of education,” he said. “That’s what this is. And it’s petty and small.”

Bertino rejected that accusation. “This has nothing to do with the board of education,” he said. “It has everything to do with the taxpayers of this county.”

Commissioner Eric Fiori (District 3, West Ocean City) opposed the motion, saying the county had already reduced costs for resident homeowners by lowering the property tax rate and setting the Homestead Tax Credit cap at zero.

“This is a ludicrous idea that’s going to bankrupt the county. I think it’s vindictive,” he said. “We give it all away, and times get tough, you know what happens? We have to raise taxes. This is a terrible idea.”

Commissioner President Ted Elder defended Bertino’s request and objected to Mitrecic’s past references to the stabilization account as a “slush fund.”

Elder (District 4, Western) said the fund had remained unused for years and that returning the money to resident homeowners could stimulate the local economy.

“It’s time the taxpayers received it back from where they got it,” Elder said. “Plus, it makes a beautiful stimulus package. That money goes to the people who own homes here, who live here, and that kind of stimulus check, they would be spending the money here.”

Whether the county even has the authority to issue a rebate would have to be examined first by county staff, according to County Administrator Weston Young.

“The money is there. The legal mechanism to look at for a rebate is probably what’s going to take the legwork,” Young told the commissioners.