Ocean City Council Introduces 2026 Municipal Budget With Tax Increase

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Ocean City Council formally introduced the $125.4 million 2026 municipal budget during a recent meeting.

Addressing the council, Finance Director Frank Donato said the budget document distributed earlier would be replaced by a version marked as introduced with that night’s date. He said the mayor’s budget had increased from $118 million to $125 million, but said the change did not affect the tax rate or the tax levy.

“However, the tax rate and tax levy are exactly the same as what the mayor proposed,” Donato said.

That's a 1.38 cent tax increase. The average Ocean City home assessed at $650,000 would see an annual increase in taxes of $89.

Donato identified grants already awarded this year, including a body armor fund grant of a little more than $6,000, a community development block grant of $266,000, a second bulletproof vest grant of $2,345 and $5 million for the restoration of Shooting Island.

He also said sheet 10 includes the Leon Grisbaum Airport Terminal Building donation for $3 million. Donato said the funds had already been received but were not appropriated until included in either a bond ordinance or the budget.

“And then all the grants and the donation have a matching expense account in the back of the budget,” Donato said. “All they do is increase the bottom line of the budget and they do nothing to taxation.”

Donato said the budget remains compliant with both the statutory spending cap and the levy cap. He also reviewed the timeline, saying the budget was first delivered by the mayor at the first meeting in March and later presented in detail, along with the capital plan and debt service.

He told the council that, if approved for introduction, the clerk would advertise the budget for no less than 28 days and bring it back for second reading at the May 21 meeting. “So still time to deliberate, ask questions, dig into the budget for sure,” Donato said. “We have a whole another month.”