By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR The Board of Commissioners Thursday, Oct. 13 held a public hearing and approved two new bond ordinances after hearing from auditor Leon Costello of Ford-Scott Associates of Ocean City about the city's ongoing plan to stabilize finances through adequate financial planning.
Costello said the commissioners are following through with their long-range plan to make needed capital expenditures without impacting the city's annual debt service payments. Costello said funding remains to be spent in several previously approved buckets of money appropriated for general and utility capital improvements.
He said the city can continue to approve new bond ordinances to finance major capital improvements in 2025, 2028 and 2031 based on the city's needs. As new bonds are approved, the city can refinance temporary notes to keep debt service payments stable, he said.
You can expend those funds with no impact on the city's debt service payments, he said.
Costello said it's important to maintain the city's infrastructure and that there's plenty of capacity to make capital improvements requested by the school district. The Ventnor school district is a Type I district with appointed board members. Although it funds its operating budget through taxation, the district may request funding from the city to complete capital improvements to the facility.
The school board has requested $1-2 million to make improvements to the Ventnor Educational Community Complex, which houses students in preschool to grade eight.
We have plenty of capacity at the school for capital projects they may need, Costello said. It's also been very successful to maintain the school tax levy and keep the debt service under control.
After six years in office, the Imagine Ventnor team has managed to improve infrastructure and facilities, which in turn has made the city an attractive place to invest in improving existing homes or build new ones in their place. The city's annual ratable base has increased each year, which also helps keep taxes in check.
Mayor Beth Holtzman said the equalized valuation of the city increased $43.5 million over last year, which is a 21% increase in sale prices. Although the ratio of assessed valuation to market value is at 8%, a 10% differential would result in the city having to conduct a citywide revaluation. The last revaluation was done in 2016, when the current commission was first seated.
We have to carefully watch this. If it goes to 10%, the state can force us to do a (revaluation), and we don't want to do a reval that is mandated by the state, the mayor said.
Commissioner Lance Landgraf agreed that land and property values are on the rise.
People want to be here and want to live here, he said.
The $1.48 million utility bond ordinance appropriates funding to purchase utility equipment, non-passenger vehicles, new fire hydrants and water meters, an excavator, replace beach showers on the boardwalk, purchase a fuel tank and emergency generator for the main water and sewer plant, make improvements to Well No. 5, install security upgrades at various locations, HVAC improvements at the main plant, replace a water pump at a pump station and various other unspecified improvements.
The $5.8 million general capital bond ordinance will fund vehicle, equipment and technology purchases, including drones, for the Police, Fire and Public Works departments and Beach Patrol, and pay for various infrastructure improvements to recreation, drainage, bulkheads and roadways.
The bond will also fund improvements to Fire Station No. 1 and building a new band shelter at the beachfront park on Newport Avenue. According to Landgraf, after obtaining input from the musicians who play in the free concerts offered at the deteriorating gazebo, the plans for the band shelter are being redesigned to improve acoustics. The project should be ready to put out to bid next month, he said.
What you started out to do six years ago, you needed a lot of ordinances and capital, which has maintained strong financial stability and it comes through careful planning, not by the seat of your pants doing stuff, said Costello, who has been an auditor for 48 years. If you go town to town, the public likes to see capital projects. It betters the town and betters their values. Some get grief for doing capital projects that's ill-fitted.
Landgraf said Costello's financial planning efforts have been able to get us out of the hole we were in.
In other business, Holtzman, who has a background in finance at the county level, introduced the city's new comptroller, Amy Stover, who is replacing CFO Al Stanley on a provisional basis. Stanley resigned from his full-time position in Ventnor to work in another community but will continue to work on a part-time advisory capacity until Dec. 31, 2023. At that time, Stover will have all the necessary state certifications to be chief financial officer. The board also approved hiring Quyen A. Harvey as a senior accountant to provide additional support in the Finance Office.
A strong Finance Department in any organization, including government, is your backbone. You have to have a clean house, Holtzman said.
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