SNOW HILL – The Worcester County Commissioners agreed to find funding to ensure a study aimed at addressing Inlet shoaling moves forward.
On Tuesday the commissioners voted unanimously to find the $300,000 needed to fund the local share of an Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) feasibility study. The study would serve as the first step in finding a solution to the Inlet’s depth issues.
“Time is of the essence,” Commissioner Bud Church said. “We need to do something now.”
The increasingly shallow channel has been a problem for Ocean City’s commercial boats for years. Shoaling has begun to create navigation issues for recreational boats as well. Concerned parties launched a cooperative effort to find a long-term fix to the problem last year.
An ACE feasibility study was identified as the first step in that process. Half of the $1.2 million study would be funded by the federal government while $300,000 would be funded by the state, leaving a $300,000 local share. Though there was initially talk of using beach replenishment funding to cover the local share, Ocean City officials were vocal in their opposition to that idea last week. They also expressed frustration with the idea of splitting the local share with Worcester County.
“Our share would be $150,000 and the county’s share would be $150,000, but our taxpayers pay 60 percent of the county’s budget already,” Ocean City Council Secretary Mary Knight said last week. Ocean City leaders, who have long argued that their residents are paying for a duplication of services, recently filed a lawsuit against Worcester County to settle the tax differential issue.
In the wake of resort leaders’ reluctance to use beach replenishment funds for the study, Commissioner Joe Mitrecic asked his fellow commissioners Tuesday to instruct county staff to find $300,000 for the study and then ask Ocean City for a contribution.
“We need to move on this,” he said.
Following the commissioners’ unanimous support of his motion to find funding for the study, Chief Administrative Officer Harold Higgins said his office was working toward that goal.
“Due to the importance of the study, county staff are working to identify a source of funds for such a study,” he said. “Once funding is identified, staff will seek the commissioners’ approval and send a letter to the Town of Ocean City seeking their participation in the study.”
Delegate Mary Beth Carozza, who with Senator Jim Mathias and U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin has worked toward finding a solution to the growing shoaling problem, said she was eager to see the study move ahead. ACE’s maintenance dredging is no longer able to keep up with the problem.
“We appreciate the efforts by all parties concerned to find ways to fund the completion of studies that the Army Corps requires for future dredging and that we’re pushing to expedite,” she said. “The safe passage of both commercial and recreational vessels through the Ocean City Inlet is critical to the economy of our area. We are grateful that dredging is taking place now to alleviate the difficulty of navigating between buoys 11 and 12 but remain concerned over the shortened time frames that have been occurring with dredged areas filling back in.”