OCEAN CITY — Ocean City’s municipal election is set for next Tuesday, Nov. 8, with three city council seats on the line as well as a handful of important ballot questions.
The polls will be open at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center next Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The municipal election will be held in conjunction with the state and federal elections on the same day, however, the elections will be held independently, and voters must sign up at both the municipal and state-federal registration desks.
In addition to electing three councilmembers, voters in the municipal election will have to decide on three important city ballot questions. One has to do with the percentage of room tax collected dedicated to marketing and advertising. Last December, the council narrowly passed an ordinance altering the formula for how a percentage of room tax generated in the resort is distributed to marketing and advertising.
By way of background, Ocean City’s room tax in 2019 was raised from 4.5% to 5% with about 44% dedicated to marketing and advertising and 56% dedicated to the town’s general fund to help offset the increased cost of tourism, including fire and police services, public works, salaries and overtime.
In December, a divided council approved an ordinance that would gradually scale up the percentage of room tax revenue dedicated to destination marketing, advertising, promotions, sponsorships, special events and the like over the coming years. For example, for fiscal year 2023, 2% of the room tax revenue would be dedicated to destination marketing, with that figure increasing to 2.1% in fiscal year 2024 and 2.2% in fiscal year 2025 and beyond.
Local resident and former councilman Vince Gisriel from the beginning publicly challenged the ordinance on the grounds the scaled increases in the amount of room tax dedicated under the broad umbrella of marketing and advertising would exponentially grow those budgets at a rate faster than the general fund growth. To that end, in December, Gisriel sent a letter and a draft petition for a referendum on the room tax ordinance to the city solicitor for approval.
Gisriel and his support team then collected the requisite number of signatures to get the referendum regarding room tax distribution on next Tuesday’s ballot. With 1,528 votes cast in the last municipal election, the target for a successful petition for referendum was 40%, or 612 verified signatures. At the conclusion of the petition drive, 807 verified signatures had been submitted, or well beyond the required 612, and the question ended up on next week’s ballot.
Two other questions on next Tuesday’s city ballot are similar but separate issues and both deal with the salaries of the town’s elected officials. Ballot Question 1 would authorize the mayor’s salary to be increased from the current $30,000 per year to $50,000 per year. Ballot Question 2 would authorize an increase in a councilmember’s salary from the current $10,000 to $20,000, while the council secretary’s salary would increase from the current $11,000 to $23,000.
The elected officials’ salaries were last increased in 1989. To that end, it was brought up late last year it could be time for an increase, or the pay hike should at least be explored. City Manager Terry McGean delved into several aspects of a proposed salary increase for the town’s elected officials, including a comparison of similarly-sized jurisdictions around the state. McGean’s research determined to town’s elected officials’ salaries were considerably lower than officials in other jurisdictions.
The council could have approved the proposed pay increases through the ordinance process, but because at least some of them would stand to benefit from it and to avoid any semblance of impropriety, it was decided to put the issue on the ballot and let the voters decide.
