By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

As 2025 kicks off, improvements to a racquet center sports building, a new firehouse, a jet ski launch initiative and the annual budget process are all on track for Ocean Pines.

General Manager John Viola gave his monthly progress report on the neighborhood’s ongoings at the community’s Dec. 21 meeting of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors. Viola updated residents on the status of current projects, including renovations to the racquet center building, which he said is on schedule. The project will see upgrades to the bathrooms and the front pro shop. Construction will begin this month.

Viola said the new South Station for the Ocean Pines Volunteer Fire Department is also advancing; the fit-out, or interior of the building, was recently discussed. The general manager said the team is looking at architectural plans at this point and that “everything seems to be on track.”

An agreement to upgrade the community fire group’s South Station was solidified last July with an MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the OPA Board of Directors and the OPVFD that outlined each party’s role in funding and progressing the project.

The agreement determines that the fire company will use grant and bond funds previously obtained for the construction cost of the renovations. The department will also use funds secured through fundraising efforts. Ocean Pines will cover the remaining costs, “subject to OPA having exclusive control over the ultimate cost and scope of the project, as well as management after that,” the contract reads.

Additionally, six new jet ski launches may arrive at Ocean Pines this summer. Viola said that permits are being applied for the ramps, which will be located at the Swim and Racquet Marina.

“This is something to enhance the amenities and the customer experience [in Ocean Pines],” the general manager said. The project will likely cost around $19,000.

A pricing study for neighborhood amenities has also occurred before the new year. Viola said the process is “one of the biggest” elements for the budget. The manager and his team evaluated inflation factors over the last five years, price increases the association made or didn’t make during that period, the rise in the minimum wage, which now sits at $15 an hour, and “has a major effect on aquatics, golf,” and other amenities. The community leaders have also looked at comparable amenity prices of nearby institutions. Viola said this study is a “big part of the budget process.”

A budget town hall is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 5. Viola hopes that the budget will receive official approval on Feb. 22. The general manager added that he expects public safety, the newly enacted Family and Medical Leave Insurance benefit, which allows employees to take extended paid time off work to care for themselves or a sick loved one, funded by both the employee and the employer, to affect the budget and the community assessment.

Viola broke down the percentage of the assessment that will go toward public safety. In fiscal year 2024-2025, of the total $850 assessment, 36.8% went toward public safety efforts. The public safety percentage of the assessment for fiscal year 2025-2026, estimated at $850 to $875, jumps to around 38% or 39%.