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MARCH 17, 2017
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
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Room tax increase coming?
New trams will require new money
Tourism commission broaches subject with industry reps
Replacing aging fleet would cost between $2 million-$4 million
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (March 17, 2017) Raising Ocean City’s room tax is apparently on the minds of some Ocean City officials, as they started a long discussion on raising it, but industry members cautioned that doing so could alienate its customer base and resort hotels. During Monday’s Tourism Commission, Councilwoman Mary Knight sought the opinions of the Hotel- ‘We feel that it M o t e l - wouldn’t hurt Restaurant competitively.’ Association —Councilwoman and the Mary Knight Ocean City Chamber of Commence on raising the room tax from 4.5 percent to 5 percent by summer 2018. Wildwood and Myrtle Beach have 13 percent room tax, she said, while Atlantic City has the same tax plus a $5 per night charge and Virginia Beach has a 14 percent tax and a $2 per night charge. “We feel that it wouldn’t hurt competitively,” Knight said. She added that the city’s staffing levels remain significantly less than they were when the room tax took effect in 2009, while the city’s revenues also declined despite the need to maintain the same levels of service. It wasn’t until last year that the city’s budget apSee FOCUS Page 4
JOSH DAVIS/OCEAN CITY TODAY
ALMOST THERE Several painters, braving both hydraulic and analogue ladders, put the finishing touches on Boardwalk lampposts, near the inlet, last Tuesday.
Bay terrapins spared from old crab pots Volunteers collect 55 traps abandoned or forgotten
By Kara Hallissey Staff Writer (March 17, 2017) Watermen and volunteers removed 55 abandoned crab pots from area bays last month as part of a Maryland Coastal Bays Program effort to clear the waters of hazards to terrapins. Commercial crabber Skip Maisel along with first mate Charlie Travers and a couple Assateague Conservation Corps volunteers spent two days in the bays See OYSTERS Page 5
First Mate Charlie Travers holds an oyster toadfish caught during the crab pot recovery effort recently.
By Katie Tabeling Staff Writer (March 17, 2017) Only one thing is in the way of resort government’s desire to replace eight aging Boardwalk trams that have toiled on the board for the past 13 years. Make that two to four million things, actually, as the $2 million-$4 million cost of new replacements isn’t in the budget. The Boardwalk trams are past their life expectancy, Transit Manager Mark Rickards told Ocean City’s Transportation Commission Tuesday, and the first issue is to decide which type to get: gas, diesel or electric engines. Gas engine re‘It will look a placements would cost little more roughly $1.8 modern and million, he have leg room.’ said, while —Transit Manager the price of Mark Rickards diesel engine trams would be $2 million and electric engines would come in at $4 million. All projected prices came from Trams International, the same company that sold Ocean City its current fleet. Although the purchase price differences are obvious, Rickards said the operating costs are a different matter. “I really like electric [trams] at the moment since there’s no operating costs and no gas emissions,” he said. “We’re looking at a similar design, but it will look a little See CITY Page 5