County hikes Ocean Pines’ utility rates $12 per quarter

Loss of flush tax exemption blamed for one-off increase

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

Facing a budget shortage in the Ocean Pines Water and Wastewater Service Area after losing an exemption from the flush tax and increasing operational costs, Worcester County is raising the rates for Ocean Pines customers by $12 per quarter.

In a June 20 meeting, the Worcester County Commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2023-24 operating budget for the enterprise fund, including an increase from $187 to $199 per equivalent dwelling unit per quarter for domestic water and wastewater service.

The commissioners adopted the water and wastewater enterprise fund operating budgets, assessments, user charges, and other charges for each of the 11 sanitary service areas, including the Ocean Pines Service Area, and sub-areas.

Individual rates are set to cover the operating and maintenance costs for each SSA operated by the Worcester County Department of Public Works, Water and Wastewater Division. User charges cover the operation and maintenance of these facilities, and rates are service area specific. In addition to user fees, a debt service assessment is levied to repay bonds and loans for capital water and sewer infrastructure that is financed by the county, and all assessments are based per equivalent dwelling unit.

In Ocean Pines the base rate will increase to $199 per EDU per quarter for domestic water and sewer and to $179.75 per EDU per quarter for the domestic sewer only flat charge. Additional domestic water and sewer charges will be levied at a rate of $1.60 per 1,000 gallons up to 10,000 gallons.

The base range fee for commercial water and sewer will be $256.46 to $2,143.60 based on total EDUs. Properties are classified as subdivision and business or industrial based upon existing land use or committed or approved zoning or land use. Residential properties are classified as subdivisions and all others are classified as business or industrial.

There will also be an increase in the White Horse Park domestic water and sewer flat rate to $154 per lot per quarter.

Standard assessments in the OPSA for debt service will be $36 per EDU per quarter debt service. New Ocean Pines customers who have already paid the required equity contribution do not pay the standard assessment for debt service, but instead shall pay supplemental assessments for additional debt service established at $31 per EDU per quarter.

Accounts that are delinquent more than 30 days from the date of billing are subject to assessment of a $5 penalty plus 3 percent interest per quarter.

Overall, the requested OPSA operating budget for FY24 totals $8.6 million, an increase from the FY23 approved budget of $8.03 million.

Even though the Ocean Pines wastewater treatment plant’s failure to meet nutrient removal guidelines was the result of negligence by a Worcester County worker, the OPSA had to pay the more than $540,000 in bay restoration fees, otherwise known as the flush tax, to the State of Maryland.

While ratepayers do not have to directly shell out the $60 per equivalent dwelling unit fee from which they typically receive a waiver, the money is being taken from the OPSA reserve fund. That reserve fund is in turn funded by the same ratepayers to help cover the cost of future capital expenses.

The state Department of the Environment assesses the BRF annually to treatment plants that have accepted federal or state dollars or that have not met their discharge permit limits and the fee is passed along to all ratepayers in the service area. The fee is also paid by septic system owners where the sys-

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tems do not meet stringent nutrient guidelines.

OPSA rate payers have never been subject to the fee because the treatment plant has always meet or exceeded those nutrient load requirements until 2021.

The OPSA treatment plant did not meet its annual average nitrogen limit for calendar year 2021. Ocean Pines has an annual average nitrogen limit of 3.0 mg/L, but in 2021 the plant’s annual average was 4.3 mg/L.

In January 2021, it was discovered that a rake head had fallen into a treatment unit, that it had clogged a pipe, and the entire treatment unit had to be drained to clear the clog. Because it takes time to rebuild the microbes that break down nutrients, the treatment plant did not meet the discharge permit limits.

Worcester County administration appealed to the Secretary of MDE and the Governor’s Office requesting the BRF be waived due to operational issues beyond its control but the requests were denied.

Assuming the plant operations within normal parameters this year, the OPSA most likely will be exempted from the flush tax again next year.

Worcester County is currently seeking bids for a project at the Ocean Pines wastewater treatment plant for dewatering equipment and building design. The project is part of a $4.6 million county bond that was approved in February 2022.

The county’s Department of Public Works operates the treatment plant. In 2020, the county hired the engineering firm of George, Myles and Buhr to evaluate the existing biosolids dewatering equipment at the facility and consider alternatives for upgrading or improving the system to further increase the capacity and throughput of sludge processing.

The treatment plant utilizes an activated sludge treatment process to achieve treatment of raw wastewater from the Ocean Pines community. Biosolids generated by the treatment process are collected and stabilized in aerobic digesters. From the digesters, sludge can either be transferred directly to drying beds for dewatering, or pumped to a sludge buffer tank, where it is then processed by a belt filter press.

From the belt filter press, sludge is then stored in the covered drying beds for further dewatering as the county does not currently have the ability to haul dewatered sludge cake with a solids concentration of less than 35 percent.

GMB evaluated alternatives to increase the solids handling and processing capacity at the treatment plant. The alternatives included constructing a new dewatering building and equipment sized to handle the solids production at the facility, assuming an increase in influent flow of approximately 2.3 times the current average daily flow. The estimated project cost is $5,231,498.

St. Martins by the Bay added to Ocean Pines water system

The Worcester County Commissioners on June 20 approved an amendment to change the designation of the water system for the St. Martins by the Bay community from a private community system to a public one with service from the Ocean Pines water system. It will also add the community to the Ocean Pines water planning area.

The Worcester County Planning Commission reviewed the proposed Water and Sewerage Plan amendment at a May 4 meeting and found it to be consistent with the Worcester County Comprehensive Plan.