Seniors, business owners protest increases

JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
A large crowd gathers inside the Stephen Decatur High School auditorium on Tuesday night to oppose proposed property tax and utility fee increases in conjunction with the Town of Berlin’s still in development fiscal 2020 budget.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(March 28, 2019) A crowd in the hundreds attended the public meeting Tuesday night in the Stephen Decatur High School auditorium to discuss proposed property tax and utility fee increases in the Town of Berlin.

Along with many of the same speakers and public comments that have dominated recent Berlin public meetings were several new voices, including many senior citizens, several business owners, and one woman representing the local real estate industry.

Town officials have said property taxes would likely go up anywhere from 20 to 34 percent, while stormwater, water and sewer fees would also need to increases to offset several years of overages that have been covered by the town’s general fund.

Don Fletcher asked how, if town officials were monitoring audited financial statements each year, they got to this point.

“You should know whether you have enough funds to cover the operations,” he said. “When you keep track of costs per enterprise fund, you should know how much revenues you need, instead of borrowing it from the general fund all the time.

“The rates would’ve been better going up from year to year, if you looked at it from year to year, than all at one time,” he added.

William Campion, a Bay Street resident, said he came to the town in 1973 as a locksmith. He’s now 85 and is a retired member of the U.S. Air Force.

“I’ve got nothing left. I finally just a couple of months ago got an $850 dollars a month [check] from the military, for my service,” he said. “Now, your taxes are going to push me out. I can’t stay here. I can’t do it. I’ll become a charge of my kids, which I don’t want to do.

“I want to hold my head up too,” he said. “You should have raised [taxes] every year, 2 or 3 percent. You shouldn’t have waited this long. And the only thing I can say about it all, is there’s an election coming up.”

Barbara Ogurcak from Powell Circle said she put her house up for sale and had a contract on it, but the buyer backed out after they learned about the tax increases. She said if things don’t change, the housing crash of 2008 could repeat in Berlin.

“You can’t do this all in one tax increase. It’s not fair to us,” she said. “People who have lived here their whole entire lives are not going to be able to live here.

“I’m begging you, look at this! Really look at this,” she continued. “I can see a tax increase, yes, but not this much, not all at one time. Spend your money wisely – spend our money wisely.”

Nelson Street resident Barbara Gallagher said she is a widow and retired, and living on a fixed income.

“I can’t afford this, yet I couldn’t afford to sell my house,” she said. “Who is going to buy my house when they see what our tax rate is? You’ve got us captured. What are we supposed to do?”

Mayor Gee Williams said if she lived anywhere else in the county, except Ocean City, she would already be paying more.

“That’s not the tax rate I moved into,” she said. “When I bought my house here, it was affordable … I’m going to have to lower the price of my house to get anybody that’s dumb enough to want to move into it.”

Baked Dessert Café owner Robin Tomaselli said she is not only a business owner, but also the mother of “two adult children,” a son who is a firefighter and paramedic, and a daughter who works for Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services.

“A property increase will price them right out of their homes,” she said.

As a business owner, Tomaselli said she employs two women who live in town and are the sole providers for their households. She said because of the seasonal nature of the town, her business makes the majority of its money during the summer.

“I have to save every dime I can from our busy months in the summer to survive the winter – and I when I mean survive, I’m telling you there are times in January, February, March and April that I’m not making enough money to even make payroll,” she said.

“Berlin is not insulated from us being a resort town … and I save from the summer, so I can keep the two women that have been working for me and who live here in town employed. So, if you increase property taxes, that’s definitely going to effect me,” Tomaselli added.

She said some landlords have already jacked up their rents and forced out local businesses.

“I think that’s something to consider and understand,” Tomaselli said. “With the increases that you guys are talking about, you’re not only going to price people out of living here, you’re going to price like me out of being able to do business here.”

Cameron Drew said she serves on the Coastal Association of Realtors Board of Directors and represents more than 1,000 members of that organization “who depend on the health and vitality of the housing market in order to make a living.”

She said increasing property taxes and utility fees all at once and at the rate proposed could have a devastating impact on local residents and businesses.

Drew said a $265,000 home on Upshur Lane, which is close to the average home price in Berlin, would see a tax increase of about $300 a year with a 20 percent property tax increase, and by nearly $500 with a 34 percent increase.

“I sold a home earlier this year to two Worcester County teachers in the Town of Berlin who are very upset,” she said. “This really changes their budget and it could cause them to have to sell within their first year of owning a home, which is just really unfair and makes me very mad for them.”

Drew said higher taxes would affect the buying power of new homeowners, because they would face higher monthly mortgage payments. For existing homeowners, she said increases would impact escrow calculations and push some people into the red.

“Your market is recovering, just like everyone else’s, but it’s a slippery slope, especially when you’re possibly pricing an entire income bracket out of your market,” she said.

“We recognize that prices go up and you need to cover your expenses. We also recognize that property taxes have not increased in some time,” Drew continued. “However, you need to give your people time to figure out where this extra money is going to come from. You need to make incremental increases, so you don’t see more homes go onto the market in Berlin. Your town will become a very hard sell once people see these numbers.”

Councilman Dean Burrell admitted town officials might have been slow to react to water and wastewater overages, and that hindsight is 20/20.

“God knows I wish that we had been getting this type of input for those years that have passed,” he said. “But, when you have … two public meetings a month and except for the newspaper your attendance is three or four individuals, we think your silence is your approval. That has been, evidently, a misconception.

“Whatever comes out of this meeting, I ask for your continued support on a bimonthly basis,” Burrell continued. “I know we’re not going to have town meetings this big every other week, but I sure would appreciate to hear what you think, to hear what you want, to hear your ideas and suggestions, and all that can do is make us a better town.”

Upcoming budget meetings include a general fund work session on Monday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m., and a utilities fund work session on Monday, April 15 at 5:30 p.m., both at Town Hall on 10 William Street.

The next Town Council meeting is scheduled on Monday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

For a full list of upcoming public meetings, visit www.berlinmd.gov/maryland-government/council-meetings.