I want to start by letting everyone know that the state of Sea Isle City is as strong as ever. As most everyone knows, we have stressed the importance of working together as a government and as a community to get things done. As a local government, we’ve remained committed to our core mission of keeping the city safe and clean; maintaining our infrastructure; providing a balanced system of laws and regulations; maintaining financial stability; and doing our job as effectively as possible with the objective of achieving satisfaction for our residents and visitors.

When it comes to keeping the city safe, our police, EMT, and fire services are among the finest in the state. In addition to our full-time police and EMT staff, this year we will once again budget in order to staff our fire department with round-the-clock duty crews. This has served us well since the beginning of the duty crew program five years ago.

As for keeping the city clean and well maintained, our Public Works Department is second to none; and our capital improvement program has been a significant part of our success over many years.

We’re in the midst of a project to reinforce and improve our promenade, with the assistance of 2 million dollars of grant funding. In addition to structural improvements and the addition of handicapped accessible entrances, the project will also extend the decorative lighting to each end of the promenade. Prior to the summer season we’ll also add lighting to Excursion Park to improve the experience there.

Later this year, we’ll begin another grant funded project to provide handicapped accessible entrances and a viewing platform at the north end of the city. We’re in the process now of designing and obtaining permits to improve our boat ramp at the marina. We continue to upgrade our stormwater systems along with our city water and sewer infrastructure, and follow these projects with road paving.

We recently received notice from the state that we are the recipient of another grant to provide for electric vehicle chargers, which will be located in the parking lot of the new Community Center.

And speaking of the Community Center we are nearly complete with the building and looking forward to opening it up to the public. We’ve already registered hundreds of our citizens for membership to the building. As I’ve said before, this facility will be a hub for the community - a place to gather with others and to enjoy all of its recreational offerings. I’ve had the pleasure of taking various groups through the building, including the city council, the chamber of commerce, and the recreation committee; and the general consensus is WOW.

This is a project that is truly owned by all of us. The planning process for the facility spanned more than 7 years. It involved community surveys, town hall meetings, a special ad-hoc committee, a referendum vote, and all manner of ways to gather as much information as possible from the public before we completed the design. And the fact is that we continue to take feedback, and will continue to do so after we open. That’s a big part of what makes this government successful - we listen to those we serve and we make thoughtful decisions after considering everything.

Turning to our finances, the budget I’ll be presenting to council today includes a tax rate increase of less than one penny. Three quarters of a cent to be exact. In addition, our fund balance position is the highest it’s ever been. This is an important point. Our surplus is a key item that rating agencies like Standard and Poor and Moody’s consider when they evaluate the soundness of our financial situation and assign bond ratings. We currently hold a very high double-A bond rating, and all of our indicators show that we can maintain or improve that rating.

For our water and sewer utility, there will be no rate increase for the 13th consecutive year. In our utility budget we also maintain a significant surplus. This is important, as it allows us to advance capital improvements for water and sewer projects without taking on additional debt. The budget I’m presenting will fund all the services our citizens have come to expect; and we’ve budgeted for everything we plan to offer at the Community Center.

Regarding capital projects, we’ve budgeted the necessary down payment for the capital plan adopted by city council in December. Speaking of that adopted plan, it included shade structures for the playground along JFK Boulevard.

In order to make sure we advance a project that meets council and the public’s expectations, we’ll be having our city engineer attend an upcoming council meeting to present the details of the proposed plan.

I want to mention another item in our capital plan that is probably the most important part of the program - our beach replenishment. We worked for a long time to become part of the Army Corps of Engineers 50-year program; and had our initial beach-fill project completed in 2015. Since that time, we’ve had two additional replenishment projects. Through our efforts with our state and federal partners, we’ve been able to maximize the extent of each project, ensuring we get as much sand as possible within our areas of need. This has served us well, as our beaches have weathered the storms we’ve experienced since our last project two years ago, with minimal erosion. I know there’s been concerns regarding the future of federal funding for these projects, but we’re confident from discussions with Congressman Van Drew that we will be receiving the necessary funds to accomplish our next scheduled project.

Our beach replenishment program is just one more example of how we best accomplish things by working together, as we’ve forged a great partnership with our state and federal government.

In this day and age, we’re inundated with social media. On one hand, the ability to connect us to one another and share information is a great resource for all people. Certainly, the ability to communicate with our friends and family, to keep up with current events, and to engage in meaningful dialogue is a good thing. On the other hand, social media can become a platform where opinions become facts, and where criticism crosses the line into personal attacks. Years ago, when we launched our e-newsletter, our primary objective was to provide accurate and timely information. We’ve taken pride in this, and believe that we’ve provided factual information to keep our citizens well informed of what their government is doing. With social media, we’re going to make an effort to correct mis-information when we become aware of it. I want to be clear - we want to hear criticism. If there’s something we can do better, we want to do it. But we want people to know the facts.

It’s all part of the foundational values we’ve embraced as a city - respect; integrity; commitment to excellence; and tolerance. I believe in these values, and I know our citizens do as well. Remembering this, and remembering that we can disagree without being disagreeable, that civil discourse will help us to find common ground, and that in the end we all want what is best for our city, we will accomplish great things.

Turning back to the budget, I’m proud to say that we’re one of the earliest towns to present our budget for consideration this year. I’m also proud to say that, according to our auditor, Leon Costello, whose firm handles dozens of communities, we are in excellent financial shape, not only for this year, but for the future. There will be a council workshop this Thursday, February 12th, at 9:00 a.m. to review the details of what is being presented to council today. As we have in the past, we’ll go through the document page by page for council and address any questions. We look forward to that meeting, and before I close, I’ll leave with these words: I love this City. It’s been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your mayor. I know in my head that it’s impossible to do everything that everyone wants, but in my heart my first thought is that yes - we can do that, we can get it done. Because as a public servant, that’s the job - to serve our community.

Here’s the thing -- what one person or one group wants sometimes conflicts with what another person or another group wants. Sometimes what folks want conflicts with our own laws or regulations. Still, I believe our first thought should be how to find a way to yes, how to reach agreement, and always do the right thing. And that’s another challenge sometimes - determining what the right thing is. Sometimes it’s easy - but again, when it comes to certain issues, the “right” course of action becomes a contested question. Regardless, I’m confident by working together, we’ll find the right path, because as I’ve said so many times - we are one Sea Isle City and together we’ll be stronger than ever.

Thank you and God bless the City of Sea Isle City.

Smile…You’re in Sea Isle!

Mayor Leonard C. Desiderio