At The Beach – Ocean City Maryland

The mix of economic issues looming for Ocean City Md is very REAL! Real Estate Property assessments increased significantly during the “speculation and development” boom a few years ago. This resulted in significant property tax increases for real estate property owners (Both Business properties and residential), creating hardship for local residents and increased operating expenses for business owners and those who have a 2nd home Condo and rent it out. Increased operating expenses require increases in prices to be charged the “visiting vacationers” … pretty well across the board.

This tax increase produced significant increases in revenue for Ocean City MD – in fact, a windfall! How did they spend that money??? Apparently it indeed was committed to more expenditures. Unfortunately, we are now in the midst of and possibly the beginning of future declines in revenue for the City due to the recession and declining real estate property tax revenues. The city now potentially faces a multi-million dollar budget deficit and must cut operating expenses or increase taxes. Let us hope the ENTIRE council puts the brakes on any NEW expenditures of any kind during this period until the economic trend is upward again.

If they increase property taxes AGAIN – the result will allow them to possibly balance their budget, but at the expense of Tourism, Local Residents, Absentee 2nd home property owners and all local Businesses. Let us hope that the entire city council realizes the pending need to reduce expenditures severely, possibly even to furloughing employees and reduction of staff(s). Look what happened to General Motors with the substantial labor costs and benefits they were having to sustain in a competitive market. Now they will ultimately have to cut back employee wages and benefits in order to be competitive or face extinction.

More taxation means businesses and condo rental owners must increase their prices AGAIN. Property Tax increases also would continue to dampen Real Estate Sales. This means that Ocean City MD becomes less affordable for vacationers in a time when they are seeking bargains and good vacation experiences for their reasonable vacation budget. So – The rationale is then (To the City Council) .. don’t increase property taxes – but rather “GET REAL” and put away your now slim city wallet and go on a serious diet! .. To even think about 5 million for a renovated Arts Center is insane in this economic climate! A renovated Arts center surely will cost MUCH MORE than it’s proponents say it’s economic benefits will be. It’s unfortunate that a vast majority of Ocean City MD property owners are absentee and have no voting rights or representation. Possibly the balance of representation would then put absentee property owners on an equal representation basis with the overly tourist minded council members elected by local interests.

The City Manager and Council need to scrutinize every city department for expense cuts – wages, benefits, inefficiency, needless overtime, etc.. – There are certainly many unneeded expenses, overstaffing or methods of operation which need to be reviewed and changed, so as to become more efficient resulting in and at a lower cost(s)! Certainly the wages and benefits paid to our city employees are OVER THE TOP! The State of Maryland just mandated a 5 day furlough for it’s employees covering the next few months (without pay) .. Ocean City MD may have to seriously think of similar cost saving means.

Worcester County MD appears to have gone on a strict diet and realizes that this is essential to maintain a budget without increased taxation. Even the purchase of a new lawnmower is deemed unnecessary during these stressful times. In September 2008, all County departments were asked to put aside their current operating budgets to be used next year. Since then, the Worcester county commissioners have announced next year’s budget will be 3 percent less than this year and have enforced a hiring freeze and denied any salary increases.

I often wonder what our full time city employees do during the winter? There is virtually nothing going on! During the summer it’s certainly understandable when the Town of Ocean City Maryland is full of vacationers that a full compliment of services and staff are necessary. Many local private businesses in Ocean City MD are struggling – They must layoff or simply let go employees when the lack of customers no longer require them to service needs. Those that own condos and rent them out depend on that rental income. It forces them also to try to recover that extra expense with increased rental rates. To even think about an increase in property taxes would have a negative effect. It’s TIME for the Town Of Ocean City Md to get out the “carving knife” and continue to trim the FAT!

UPDATE: Jan 26th, 2009 – Ocean City Maryland Town Council Meeting
The Council and City Manager continue the huge task of cutting expenses while staying trying to stay away from any thoughts of raising taxes or reducing services. This is a challenging task!

City revenue forecast does not look positive but rather indicates significant decreases in revenue in the current and future years! Let us pray and hope that city employee wages and benefit costs are scrutinized and adjusted to balance the budget! Taxpayers have already been burdened by huge tax increases over the past few years .. We hope that the City does not consider raising taxes as an option!

It should be noted that MANY towns, cities and communities in the USA are facing similar decisions. It is indeed a challenging time to serve as a public elected official for sure. We surely appreciate their time, effort and visions. Public input however is essential for elected town or city officials to hear and visualize others viewpoints and concerns.

UPDATE: FEB 15, 2009
HEADS UP to TAXPAYERS OF OCEAN CITY MARYLAND
The most recent Ocean City MD council meetings suggest that additional expense reductions are being made. It is evident that there is more “fat” to be cut from the city budget to balance it for the 2009 year. City Employees and the Fraternal Order of Police and Fire Depts hae apparently elected to forego their Cost of Living Increases also.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, with the future looking like tax revenues will likely continue to decline in the coming few years, more hatchet work will be necessary. Tax rates cannot be increased as they are already causing a detrimental effect on other facets of the local economy and of home / property / business property ownership in Ocean City MD. Our city, fire and police wages and benefits package is EXTREMELY HIGH already and composes a major percentage of the total budget. The city wage and benefits structure sort of resembles circumstances faced by General Motors. Huge wage costs and benefits and dwindling revenues!!!!!! Annual adjustments and retirement benefits will continue to cause upward increases in costs to the city to efficiently serve the taxpayers. How did this happen??? Why ??? What can be done to “retract” and reduce city wage and benefits packages?? Here is an interesting article published Jan 22, 2009 in FORBES MAGAZINE about PUBLIC SECTOR WAGES compared to private sector and the cause and effect of HIGH PUBLIC SECTOR WAGES! This link provides relative information relating to wages and benefits across the USA for CITY MANAGERS. “city managers salary survey”

And LAST but not LEAST . a link to another FORBES ARTICLE “When City Hall Goes BUST! —— Could this happen to Ocean City Md in 5 years?

Stay Tuned!!!

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Should you travel to Ocean City Maryland for a weekend get-a-way – you will find the Best Ocean City MD Hotel Rates here! ( Guaranteed )

If you wish to RENT a condo during the summer for a vacation .. click here and visit our Vacation Rentals Ocean City Md and Coastal Delaware including Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach Delaware to help you get started.

Cheers ! Here is to a Healthy and we hope Prosperous New Year 2009.

It’s election time for the Town of Ocean City Md city council representatives. In a day or two we shall know who shall represent the taxpayers (well – those that reside here – not those that own 2nd homes here and have their primary residence elsewhere and vote elsewhere) – Enough said for Taxation without representation ..

Ocean City MD is a vacation destination – It’s a well maintained city but only a small “spit” of barrier sand along the Atlantic Coast of the USA – SO.. I surely wish the governing body would push harder to preserve our natural habitat .. minimize overdevelopment in the future – promote green things such as Trees – Bushes – Flowers – Shrubs – etc..

Commercial buildings should be set back further along the highway to provide a more ambient and scenic Coastal Hwy .. Developers should be encouraged or mandated to provide more ever green foliage and ALSO to minimize rain runoff into our storm drains – which only continue to contaminate and polute our bays behind Ocean City Md .. There are ways to make this happen .. but I have not really seen any awareness of this or motivation to address this issue.

The resultant pollution (a thread for another day) continues to impact in a negative way our coastal bays, thereby reducing the wildlife and fisheries .. Read on here to learn more about the Maryland Coastal Bays and Environmental Issues.

Vacationers come to Ocean City MD to enjoy the pristine quality of life, to catch a fish or crab in and around Ocean City MD, and to play in our back coastal bays .. The evironmental condition of the bays continues to be suspect and not really improving in quality as I am aware of. There are surely more things we can do to improve the existing situation.

I would hope the new council representatives could also pursue the purchase of coastal highway properties (now for sale) to preserve and use to increase the amenities and greenery now almost absent in Ocean City MD … .. it may be more productive to invest in our infrastructure and zoning requirements rather than “increase” sales taxes which go toward more advertising (which only have a short term affect) ..

Should you travel to Ocean City Maryland for a weekend get-a-way – you will find the Best Ocean City MD Hotel Rates here! ( Guaranteed )

If you wish to RENT a condo during the summer for a vacation .. click here and visit our Vacation Rentals Ocean City Md and Coastal Delaware including Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach Delaware to help you get started.

Have a comment? Visitors are welcome to register and advance this topic, offer other views, etc.. You MUST FIRST REGISTER, AND A PASSWORD WILL BE EMAILED TO YOU: Simply CLICK HERE to login or CLICK HERE to register so that you may post a comment.

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Update April 6, 2008 – Good News! The pending Maryland Computer Services Sales Tax is REPEALED! Maryland’s “tech tax” is dead.

I just wanted to put this at the top of this article to ensure everyone who reads this article will know the ultimate outcome! .. CLICK HERE FOR THE Baltimore Sun Newspaper article of April 6, 2008: My personal thanks to our legislators (who voted to repeal this tax) and Maryland’s Governor O’Malley (For his standing up to the issue and advocating the repeal of the tax) for realizing the negative affects of this tax and legislating to repeal the probable negative affects should this tax have come to fruition.

below – my previous commentary and article to alert everyone about the negative affects of such a tax.

The July 2008 date for the enacted Computer Services 6 percent Tech Tax in Maryland is looming! It is quite obvious that this is an erroneous tax and will not bring benefits ( Maryland Tax Revenue ) which outweigh the negatives ( increased costs for Maryland businesses and likely outflow of Maryland Tech companies to relocate to other states ) … Our State of Maryland legislators need to re-visit and take a harder look at the possible outcome, which is likely to be weighing on the negative side as a tax revenue to balance the budget in Maryland .

Certainly there are ” luxury items ” that can be taxed to replace this ” Computer Services Tax Revenue ” and or options to cut the budget to balance it. This tax will negatively affect all businesses throughout the State of Maryland, from the Eastern Shore of Ocean City Maryland to the Western Boundaries in Hagerstown Maryland. We – ATB Internet Group, Ocean City MD are but a small Internet Company providing quality web site presence for our clients in many states across the USA. However we are very concerned that we may now have to add a “computer service tax” to our service when these businesses can ill afford it, and we are also competing with other Internet Presence Companies in other states who are not required to charge such a tax for computer services.

HELP FIGHT THE TECH TAX ! There is an upcoming Live Rally appealing for everyone to visit Annapolis Maryland on March 12, 2008 to lend credence to the issue! click here to get details – Maryland Computer Services Sales Tax hearings

Your support is appreciated – You can also Email your local legislator to voice your vote on the issue. Start here to find out more about this critical issue! Provided by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce – CLICK HERE TO GET THE FACTS:

CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS TO YOUR State of Maryland Legislator’s phone number or email so you can EXPRESS your concern over the Sales Tax on Computer Services in Maryland.

BREAKING NEWS ! posted March 14, 2008 – Governor O’Malley of Maryland now supports REPEALING the sales tax on computer services and would support a plan to raise income taxes on the rich instead! … This is refreshing news and it is a beginning to bring the legislators to address this issue and rectify the looming tax on computer services. READ THE ENTIRE NEWS RELEASE HERE – Baltimore MD Business Journal - March 14, 2008.

UPDATE: April 2, 2008 – Maryland Senate committee votes in favor of tech tax repeal —-
A Maryland Senate panel voted 10-5 to repeal a 6 percent tax on computer services Wednesday afternoon, a key step in the effort to pass the measure through the General Assembly. News release by the Baltimore Business Journal Hopefully common sense and rational thinking will prevail and our Legislators will act upon this to repeal this eroneous tax proposal!

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This is in follow up to a previous post ( article ) on the this http://blog.atbeach.com Ocean City Blog regarding the Tech Tax. You can read our initial previous posts about this critical issue here http://blog.atbeach.com/?p=144

I welcome your comments – thoughts – and feedback on this article.

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Regards,

dan

The State of Maryland’s elected delegates, in the recent special session to come up with another $200 million in income this past November of 2007, passed last minute legislation to levy a six percent ‘service tax’ on the Computer Service industry.

During its November 2007 special session the Maryland General Assembly enacted this legislation to expand the state’s sales tax to computer services to bring more revenue to the state to cover the budget deficit. The new law takes affect July 1, 2008.

This is like BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS IT! If such legislation stands, the ultimate result will be the decline of the IT industry in the State of Maryland, which is currently one of the fastest growing industries. Computer related businesses will lose business, and many will simply be forced to relocate to another nearby state to remain competitive. One shudders to think that our elected officials will allow such a last minute inclusion in the tax revenue grab to stand and become effective on July 1, 2008.

Fortunately, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, and the Tech Council of Maryland have joined together to repeal the computer services sales tax during the 2008 General Assembly Session. This pending tax will have a very negative impact on small businesses in Maryland and the State just needs to look elsewhere for this income or REDUCE SPENDING!!!!!!! Get involved by jumping over to the Maryland FIGHT THE TECH TAX coalition web site and voicing your opposition to this irresponsible legislation.

We ( At The Beach Enterprises Inc., ATB Internet Group ), provide “Computer Related Services” for individuals, companies and organizations spread throughout the USA, including Hawaii, Florida, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Illinois, etc.. If this tax bill goes into affect on July 1, 2008, we would seriously have to consider relocating across the state line into Delaware, otherwise, we would be at a competitive disadvantage with computer services companies in surrounding states.

On a POSITIVE NOTE, announced Jan 23, 2008, Seventy-two of the 141 members of the Maryland House of Delegates have co-sponsored House Bill 196 (HB 196) legislation to repeal the computer services sales tax enacted during the Legislature’s November 2007 special session. Business organizations around the state, such as the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, the Tech Council of Maryland, and the Maryland Computer Services Association (MCSA), are working closely together to secure repeal of this tax. Read about it on the Maryland Computer Services Association web site – News Flash!.

I also have news from State Senator Lowell Stoltfus, that he is co-sponsoring a bill to REPEAL this proposed computer services tax. Also, there appear to be a few other related bills since proposed to repeal and or amend the initial sales tax on computer services bill. as published by the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. Let us hope that rational thinking prevails and the bill is repealed in it’s entirety.

UPDATE: Feb 7th 2008 - Maryland Daily Record reports Senate President apposes any rollback of computer sales tax. Get the entire article from the Maryland Daily Record here – click. Spread the word to continue to express our opposition to this revenue tax bill. Get involved by jumping over to the Maryland FIGHT THE TECH TAX coalition web site and voicing your opposition to this irresponsible legislation.

UPDATE: Feb 8th, 2008 - Published Feb 7th, 2008 in the Annapolis Gazette News … on their web site ..
Business owners urged to unite in effort to give new tech tax the ax. READ IT ! It get’s to the heart of this onerous tax legislation! This is a down to earth “ALERT” … I really think the proponents of this particular tax really do not understand the significant negative impact of said proposed and enacted tax! so I AGREE .. it needs to be AXED !!!!! Small and Medium size businesses are already impacted by economic conditions and certainly the tax would indeed force IT companies to “depart Maryland” for friendlier business conditions which allow them to operate competitively. It also affects the cost of doing business for most every business in Maryland!

UPDATE: Posted Feb 21, 2008 – Maryland Chamber of Commerce announces ” Save Maryland IT Day” – Feb 27th, 2008 – Media and Legislator Event Scheduled to help educate the public and legislators regarding the negative impact of the proposed and enacted Sales Tax on Computer Services. DETAILS – CLICK HERE TO THE MARYLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WEB SITE.

FOR ADDITIONAL editorial comment, read these recent articles published by the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post relating to this apparent last minute money GRAB for the revenue pot by the Maryland State Legislators.

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I’m inclined to provide ONE MORE alert and notice about this issue: The USPS Postal Service appears to be desiring to not negotiate a fair agreement with Post Net at 130th ST Montego Bay Shopping Center to provide them fair compensation (as they had agreed to in the original contract) for managing their USPS interests in the Northern Portion of Ocean City MD (which also serves many Delaware residents and businesses) ~~~  INSERTED April 11 2006 - We have been notified by the USPS ~ United States Postal Service,  that our postal PO Boxes in Ocean City Maryland will no longer be available as of May 30 2006 at the 130th St Post Net.. FURTHERMORE we have been notified by the USPS that our existing PO Box #’s will CEASE TO EXIST! ..

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