Worcester County Commissioner Chip Bertino attended a public Ocean Pines Board of Directors meeting last week to inform residents of a proposed water/ wastewater fee structure that could spike rates.

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

Worcester County and Ocean Pines officials pledged at a public meeting this week to fight a proposed budget plan that could increase Pines ratepayer bills to make up millions of dollars in water and wastewater debt despite the wooded community’s minimal contribution to the deficit.

At a March 29 meeting of the Ocean Pines Board of Directors, Worcester County Commissioners Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting told board members that one budget plan could raise water and wastewater quarterly bills by an estimated $32 for the 18,000 ratepayers within 11 Worcester County service areas.

Last month, the proposal was presented at a Worcester County Commissioners meeting as a solution to covering financial insufficiencies. The spending blueprint has not been approved yet, but Bertino said it is the only option at present.

Ocean Pines officials argue the plan will unjustly affect Pines residents and have urged community members to join their efforts to oppose it.

“We need your support,” OPA Director Elaine Brady said, addressing the Ocean Pines homeowners. “We’ve got to fight this thing.”

Those living in the Ocean Pines service are being encouraged to email the commissioners and write letters to the editors to raise awareness of the financial plan. Bertino and Bunting are also set to host a town hall on Wednesday, April 23, at 6 p.m. at the Ocean Pines Library, and a public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, at 6 p.m. in Snow Hill.

“The Ocean Pines service area is in the crosshairs of a very unfair proposal,” Bertino said.

The attempt to launch a community rally follows the FY26 Water/Wastewater Enterprise Funds budget presentation at a county commissioners meeting on March 18. The proposal to raise rates by about $32 a quarter in all service areas aims to make up a $2.1 million deficit for the fiscal year ahead.

A water/ wastewater discussion group consisting of staff and Commissioners Ted Elder, Eric Fiori, and Bunting created the proposal. Bertino said the team met three times, and a majority voted to present the plan given to the commissioners last month.

Ocean Pines’ actual share of the losses is $116,699. Ocean Pines boasts 10,000 of the 18,000 utility users countywide, making it the largest service area. As such, Bertino noted that the fee bump should be only $1 to $3.

The commissioner added that other service areas, like West Ocean City, also would be billed unfairly under the outline. The proposal looks to raise fees equally across the service areas, yet not all are responsible for the accumulated debt.

For example, while Ocean Pines’s share of the financial insufficiencies is relatively small, Riddle Farm’s enterprise fund shortfall is slightly over $1 million.

In addition to the $2.1 million deficit in fiscal year 2026, there is an impending $6 million debt accumulated by financial mistakes that must be paid back over 10 years beginning in fiscal 2027.

 Bertino said the deficit accrued because “over many years when there was a shortage in one fund, financial transfers were made – without commissioner approval – from another fund.”

“Eventually, there was no money to transfer,” he continued. “In short, money transfers were made on paper between fund accounts that had no money in them.”

The commissioners were made aware of the situation in September. To address the crisis, the governing group unanimously approved a transfer of around $9 million from the general fund to the Enterprise Funds.

Of that, $2.7 million was designated as a grant to the Riddle Farm service area. The remaining $6.3 million was provided as a loan with an interest rate of around 5% to be paid back to the general fund over 10 years beginning in fiscal 2027.

Bertino said that if the plan of raising quarterly bills equally across the 11 service areas to address the FY2026 deficit were implemented, that model could address the looming $6 million shortfall.

“If the proposed plan is approved, it could be used as a model to require Ocean Pines ratepayers to help repay the $6 million loan beginning in FY 2027 even though the district contributed nothing to the debt,” Bertino said.

Brady assured residents that board members are taking steps behind the scenes in case the county commissioners elect to approve the plan this summer.

The directors wrote a letter to the county commissioners, urging them to reconsider the budget. The correspondence was made public earlier this week.

The OPA group also maintained that the proposal goes against the county code, which requires the Enterprise Funds to be self-sustaining.

“The intentions of the FY2026 budget for Water/Wastewater Enterprise Funds raise considerable concern among the Ocean Pines Service Area ratepayers,” the letter reads. “The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors request that Ocean Pines be held harmless from the debts of all other Water/Wastewater Service Areas.”