With the release of the new fiscal-year budget draft on Monday, homeowners in Ocean Pines might be wondering how much the next round of assessments might cost.
Last year’s basic annual assessment was $921 and according to Board President Pat Renaud, that number is likely to increase this year.
“The situation is there will be an increase, but we don’t know how much at this point,” he said. “It’s not going to be as bad as we seem to think it is, but my understanding is we still have some debt to pay and we’re going to have to do it.”
Last year, Renaud and fellow Director Tom Terry worked out a compromise that raised dues $12 a year. The original draft of that budget included an increase of $25, with $24 of that attributed to an increased funding for Fire/EMS.
This year, Renaud said he and Terry had already discussed the budget draft and promised, “We won’t have big any surprises like the fire department or anything like that.”
“They did ask for more money than we want to give them [and] those are the kind of issues that we have to battle out a little bit when we go to meet [with the budget and finance committee] next week,” he said.
“It could have been a lot worse, but the bottom line is that we came out in pretty good shape,” Renaud continued. “We came out ahead for the year, but that doesn’t always carry over to the next year.”
Renaud said Ocean Pines finished roughly $100,000 in the black for fiscal year 2016, including gains in aquatics. Golf, he said, finished with a loss.
“For a nonprofit that’s not bad,” he said. “At least we didn’t lose money overall.”
Last year’s basic annual assessment was $921 and according to Board President Pat Renaud, that number is likely to increase this year.
“The situation is there will be an increase, but we don’t know how much at this point,” he said. “It’s not going to be as bad as we seem to think it is, but my understanding is we still have some debt to pay and we’re going to have to do it.”
Last year, Renaud and fellow Director Tom Terry worked out a compromise that raised dues $12 a year. The original draft of that budget included an increase of $25, with $24 of that attributed to an increased funding for Fire/EMS.
This year, Renaud said he and Terry had already discussed the budget draft and promised, “We won’t have big any surprises like the fire department or anything like that.”
“They did ask for more money than we want to give them [and] those are the kind of issues that we have to battle out a little bit when we go to meet [with the budget and finance committee] next week,” he said.
“It could have been a lot worse, but the bottom line is that we came out in pretty good shape,” Renaud continued. “We came out ahead for the year, but that doesn’t always carry over to the next year.”
Renaud said Ocean Pines finished roughly $100,000 in the black for fiscal year 2016, including gains in aquatics. Golf, he said, finished with a loss.
“For a nonprofit that’s not bad,” he said. “At least we didn’t lose money overall.”