OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
OCTOBER 20, 2023
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
SUNFEST
SET THIS WEEKEND
Ocean City’s 48th annual Sunfest kicks off in late October for second year – Page 26
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OC pay raises aim to boost hiring efforts Beach Patrol wages said to top nearby counterparts
HUNTER HINE/OCEAN CITY TODAY
The ominous sky on the bayside of Ocean City seems appropos for the circumstances some condominium associations are encountering, as the state’s reserve study has some of them scrambling for hundreds of thousands of dollars to meet new requirements.
State reserve study sends some condo fees to painfully high levels Extreme cases could need hundreds of thousands for repair, replacement funds By Hunter Hine Staff Writer (Oct. 20, 2023) Some Ocean City condominium owners are facing fiveto-six digit bills over the next few years as they rush to meet a deadline set by new state law that requires associations to fill accounts reserved for maintenance, repairs and replacements.
House Bill 107, which is commonly referred to as the “reserve study” law or “capital reserve fund” law, passed in April 2022 and went into effect as law on Oct. 1, of that year. It mandated that condos, housing associations, cooperatives and homeowners associations in Maryland complete a reserve study by Oct. 1, 2023. Reserve studies are an analysis of a shared building's condition and an assessment of the costs to fix or replace the structure and utilities. Any association that shares common assets that were originally val-
ued at a minimum of $10,000 and hasn't had a reserve study done since Oct. 1, 2018 must have had the study conducted by a third-party building auditing firm as of the beginning of this month. For each study, a firm calculates the cost for all the necessary work, and then recommends how much money an association must put into a reserve fund annually. Owners associations have three years to fill that fund to the recommended level, and then must mainSee FLA. Page 10
By Mallory Panuska Managing Editor (Oct. 20, 2023) When Ocean City Beach Patrol guards hit the stands next summer, they will feasibly be making more money than their counterparts across the region. Similarly, Boardwalk comfort station workers will be paid higher hourly rates, maintenance vehicle techs “During budget will be eligible time in the spring, for bonuses, and all part- we talked about doing some of time employees will be these additional getting 3 perthings…” cent raises in a City Manager series of Terry McGean changes to the city government’s pay scales and incentives approved this week. “During budget time in the spring, we talked about doing some of these additional things depending how summer came out and also how our FY ’23 ended,” City Manager Terry McGean said to City Council members of the proposed adjustments during a meeting Monday. The final numbers shook out to a roughly $6 million increase in the city’s unencumbered fund balance. And although room tax revenues were slightly below projections, McGean said he felt “quite comfortable from a budget standpoint” to recommend the new employee rates and incentives. Budget Manager Jennie Knapp and Human Resources Director Katie Callan have met with McGean several See BONUSES Page 3