Ocean City officials this week agreed to make a one-time payment of $1.25 million to cover a shortage in the beach replenishment fund.
In a 7-0 vote, the City Council on Monday agreed to take $1.25 million from the city’s fund balance (unencumbered money) and make a one-time payment to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which manages an account that supports beach replenishment and shore protection projects.
The money, officials say, will be used to cover fund shortages mainly tied to an upcoming beach replenishment project in Ocean City.
“To give you an idea, the last time we did this project in 2021 the cost was $16 million,” City Manager Terry McGean told the council. “We just opened bids with the [Army Corps of Engineers] and actually the bids were below the estimate, but the total for the project, for about the same volume of sand as we did in 2021, is $28 million,” he told the council this week. “So that gives you an idea of how much cost has increased over really just the last five years. Due to that, our cost share, the local cost share, does exceed what’s in the balance of the maintenance fund.