Mayor, council look for budget control Berlin’s government wasted an hour Monday night retracing steps taken a couple of weeks ago by the Town Council to eliminate the large gap between revenue and expenses. Rather than moving on to actual new or unfinished business Monday, council members found themselves having to return to ground they… Read more »
Opinion
05/07/2026 Bayside Editorial: Berlin must deal with lead pipes issue now
Berlin must deal with lead pipes issue now It’s not a now-or-never proposition, but it’s close enough for Berlin town officials, who really don’t have a choice but to continue their pursuit of its water line replacement project along Williams Street. This is even though the project’s $1.9 million cost to remove and replace lead… Read more »
04/30/2026 Bayside Editorial: Room tax set aside symbolic gesture
Room tax set aside symbolic gesture With the Town of Berlin facing $1 million in repairs and maintenance of the publicly available parking areas, it’s easy to favor taking a 10% slice of the room tax proceeds to help pay for it. The problem, of course, is this is more of a symbolic gesture than… Read more »
04/23/2026 Bayside Editorial: Berlin tax increase hardly guaranteed
Berlin tax increase hardly guaranteed Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall’s proposal to add 1.25 cents to the town’s property tax rate suggests the town’s finances, constrained as they are by the slow-to-moderate growth of its assessable base, are headed toward red ink territory without an increase in revenue. That would be so … but only if… Read more »
04/16/2026 Bayside Editorial: It’s been a year, get on with parcel sale
It’s been a year, get on with parcel sale A year ago this week, Town of Berlin officials announced they had reached an agreement with Palmer and Sandy Gillis to sell a 9.35-acre piece of the Heron Park tract to their company, Coastal Ventures Properties. The plan back then was that the deal for $1.2… Read more »
04/09/2026 Bayside Editorial: Reading challenge aids understanding
Reading challenge aids understanding As the operators of a printed word medium, we applaud the Worcester County Library for continuing to offer its annual summer reading challenge to promote childhood literacy. All the library’s branches — Pocomoke, Snow Hill, Berlin, Ocean Pines and Ocean City — will be participating in this exercise, the theme of… Read more »
04/02/2026 Bayside Editorial: Tax break may not be enough for recruiting
Tax break may not be enough for recruiting The mayor and Town Council of Berlin have the right idea as they contemplate offering property tax incentives to first responders who live in town. Ostensibly, this idea aims to help the Berlin Fire Company recruit volunteers more than anything else, although police and career emergency services… Read more »
03/26/2026 Bayside Editorial: Don’t get hung up on making a few dollars
Don’t get hung up on making a few dollars One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so they say, except it might also be said that trash should not be designated as trash if it’s paid for with taxpayers’ money. In that instance, one needs to be aware that throwing out old government property comes… Read more »
03/19/2026 Bayside Editorial: Fire companies face recruiting problems
Fire companies face recruiting problems Local fire companies have had trouble filling their volunteer rosters for years as the number of people willing and able to serve as volunteer firefighters and EMTs seems to be constantly dwindling. There are multiple reasons for that. One, as Berlin Fire Chief Andrew Grunden told the mayor and Town… Read more »
03/12/2026 Bayside Editorial: What’s taking so long with Parcel 57 sale?
What’s taking so long with Parcel 57 sale? People generally have little sympathy for real estate developers, who, like reporters, lawyers and politicians, are often suspected of being up to something. Nevertheless, some pity is due builder/developer Palmer Gillis who, at the Town of Berlin’s invitation, has been trying … and trying … to buy… Read more »