Mayor and Council on the Convention Center

Here is a selection of comments by Ocean City council members during the council's work session on improvement of the Convention Center. I've used some quotations, but mostly paraphrasing. The comments are in chronological order (more or less).

Council Member Mary Knight: Ocean City has 35,000 property owners, but only about 2,400 of them live here. Many condo owners use their second home in Ocean City only during the summer. Some have said they would be here more during the winter if there were something to do. A performing arts center would give condo owners a reason to visit the resort during the winter.

Many condominium owners are members of the baby-boomer generation, which will generate a wave of retirement over the next decade. One of the prime considerations people have in choosing a retirement location is availability of the arts.

"I'm hoping that this project will convert some of those 34,000 people to want to live here full-time."

Council Member Joseph Hall: "Yes, the food tax will pay the town's portion of construction . . . but it will increase the town's cost for the operating deficit.

Improvements to the Convention Center would increase the town's property tax, because it would cost more to staff and operate the facility, and Ocean City shares the operating deficit 50-50 with the Maryland Stadium Authority. "You'll be on tap for 50 percent of the operating loss for now and forever." In addition, once Convention Center bonds are paid off in 10 years, the Stadium Authority will no longer pay half of the operating deficit. Ocean city will pay the entire operating deficit.

"Have you evaluated the net gain? . . . Is it going to bring more money into your pocketbook, or is it just going to make you work harder?"

More than half the resort's businesses are open only during the season, Mr. Hall said, so they would not benefit from any increased business during the winter. "A good weekend doesn't justify me opening my business. I give it back the rest of the month." "A couple of more good weekends" during the off-season is not going to "put you in the black."

Joseph Hall said that although he would not vote for it, the improvement plan on the table is "the best plan that's been put forward so far."

City Engineer Terry McGean: The improvements to the Convention Center would add $167,000 annually to the operating deficit, but would generate an estimated $372,000 in new tax revenue. "The additional tax provided by the facility itself would cover the operating deficit."

Council Member Lloyd Martin: Ocean City has to look out for year-round residents. If restaurants can't afford to stay open during the winter, residents will have to go out of town just to eat dinner. On the other hand, the improvements to the Convention Center will "drive everybody to Ocean City."

Mayor Rick Meehan: "We are reinventing ourselves and we are trying to move forward." He noted that the town will be paying off the 1996 bonds for the Convention Center next month, and paying them off early. "Everything we've done has paid."

Ocean City is going forward with the full support of the Maryland Stadium Authority, and the Stadium Authority voted to support Convention Center improvements because it will be an economic benefit to the entire state, as well as to Ocean City.

"Residents are going to rediscover the Convention Center."

When someone asked if the Convention Center could sell stock to private stockholders, Mayor Meehan replied, "The citizens of Ocean City are our stockholders."