Differential Study Suggests Lower OC Tax Rate

SNOW HILL – A consultant hired by Worcester County suggests decreasing the property tax for Ocean City residents and increasing it for county residents in an effort to account for the services the resort provides.

The tax differential identified by the study, performed by Bethesda-based TischlerBise, would require reducing the tax rate for Ocean City taxpayers to $.740 and increasing it for all other county taxpayers to $.827.

“As you can see, this represents a significant departure from the way the county has historically set property tax rates,” said Phil Thompson, the county’s finance officer.

Julie Herlands of TischlerBise told the Worcester County Commissioners this week that a tax differential study identified services that were duplicated between jurisdictions, in this case the county and the Town of Ocean City, and the costs associated with those services. She said TischlerBise staff members met with county department heads to determine that $112 million in property tax revenue was required to fund the services provided to residents. That requires a county-wide tax rate of $.776 per $100 in valuation.

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