Ocean City Police did not receive full funding from Worcester County after budget vote

OCEAN CITY, Md. – Worcester County commissioners rejected Ocean City’s request for more than $1 million in police funding. The vote was 4-3, and the decision leaves Ocean City officials exploring other options to fund the department.

Under state law, Ocean City must staff its police force year-round. The change would require the town to hire new officers, purchase vehicles and provide training.

The total cost would exceed $1 million.

Worcester County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said the commissioners who voted against the request are being unfair. “Ocean City already dumped $22.6 million into the county with property tax revenue over the last two years. Why couldn’t the county work it out to give them the $1.4 million for their police department?”

Commissioner Caryn Abbott, on the other hand, believes the town can manage without the county’s help.

“They actually could raise their property tax a penny or two to cover those costs, and we knew that going into it. That’s why we did what we did, and we knew that’s what they could do.”

However, Mitrecic, who was elected in 2014, said this has been a concern throughout his tenure. He claims the county is “kicking the can down the road.”

“We were looking at a budget with almost $2 million left over if we would have funded everybody’s request 100%. The lack of forward thinking is going to damage the county and take us to a place we really don’t want to be.”