Ocean Pines approves Fiscal Year 2019 Budget

Ocean Pines approved a fiscal year 2019 budget on Sunday.

Ocean Pines has been experiencing significant losses lately. Officials say they have hit an almost $2 million deficit over the last two years alone.

They mostly blame the losses on a broken budget.

This year's $11.4 million dollar budget will set a $951 assessment for Ocean Pines residents, which is a $30 increase from last year.

John Bailey, Ocean Pines General Manager said, "The summary is we're at 951, that's an $11.4 million dollar budget, of that $951 dollars, $70 dollars of that is applied or addresses the deficit basically creating a surplus in that 2019 budget."

That surplus is estimated to be about $590,000.

The new budget is set to take effect in May.