By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors unanimously approved the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget at the community’s regularly scheduled meeting last Saturday.

The final spending plan includes revenues and expenses of $12,846,393 and sets the basic non-water assessment rate, which consists of 6,775 lots, at $875 (up slightly from $850 in the current year but down from $883 two years ago).

The assessment rate for the 78 lots classified as non-water/estate is $1,313; the 1,361 water lots will have an assessment of $1,515 (up from $1,465 last year and $1,498 two years ago). The assessment for the six water/estate lots is $2,273, and the 288 water/ non-bulkhead lots will have an assessment of $965. The sole water/non-bulkhead/ estate lot assessment is $1,448.

“The budget approval vote is the culmination of a well-designed and proven process by [OPA General Manager] John Viola and his operational staff,” OPA Board of Directors member Jeff Heavner said. “This process provided transparency throughout multiple opportunities for opinion. This beautiful, bottom-up balanced budget is the foundation of our strategy … to ensure Ocean Pines remains a premier community with exceptional value and quality of life.”

The budget was created with input and collaboration from Viola and his staff, the OPA Budget and Finance Committee, which is made up of community volunteers, the board, and public feedback. This included a Feb. 5 budget town hall, where homeowners had the opportunity to ask questions and express their concerns. The work towards completing the financial document began last September.

During this year’s budget process, a point of contention was the introduction of a single, overarching racquet center membership. Previously, residents could choose to purchase memberships for individual sports, including pickleball, tennis, and platform tennis, which would grant them access to those activities only.

The decision to eliminate this old model and create the multi-sport combo was made to address costs associated with maintenance and operations at the center. Membership dues in the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget are now $495 for a family, $295 for individuals, $590 for the non-member family option, and $270 for a non-member individual.

The board members expressed their continued support of this decision ahead of the budget’s final approval last Saturday.

“We were told at our [budget review] session that there’s a $70,000 hole to cover in Racquet Sports,” Director Steve Jacobs said. “We’re talking about basic maintenance.  Nets, seats, tables, umbrellas, fencing, electric [and] salaries.”

“Everyone’s got to share in the cost,” he added.

Director Elaine Brady noted that the membership modification is overdue.

“I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t that to begin with,” she said. “The entire complex is for the benefit of all who play there, and the cost of maintaining that facility is borne by everybody there. Why each sport had a different membership number never made sense to me.”

Brady continued, arguing that past prices have been too low, contributing to the center’s struggle to generate revenue.

“Part of the reason that the racquet center has not been making money over the years is that the majority of the people who play there have had a membership rate well below the local market,” she said. “We’re just bringing that up a little bit so that we can get the racquet sports center into a positive position.”

All members of the board supported the budget.

“Not to support this budget, in my mind, would be fiscally irresponsible,” OPA Board Secretary John Latham said. “Each one of the directors did a thorough job in walking through their respective area of business.”

The entire spending plan can be viewed on Ocean Pine’s official website.