By MADDY VITALE

The Ocean City School Board passed a 2021-22 school budget on Wednesday night that provides all of the services, programs and materials students, families and teachers are used to in the district without a tax increase, officials said.

School affairs administrator Tim Kelley made a presentation at the meeting saying, “This budget continues to support extracurricular activities such as the arts, sports and clubs and activities throughout the district.

He added, “We continue to improve and share our success with other districts. We will not see any increase in all taxes paid, as long as we continue to provide quality education. “

The total budget for the 2021-2022 school year is $ 42.5 million, compared to $ 41.6 million for the 2020-2021 school year. Funding for the expenditure plan will come mainly from $ 23.6 million in local tax revenues.

An owner of a home valued at $ 500,000 will pay $ 1,075 in local school taxes for the year, like last year.

On March 17, when the budget was presented, Kelley explained that the main reason the district could offer the same services without raising taxes was due to an increase in property valuations in Ocean City.

The total assessed valuation of the Ocean City property has increased from $ 11.9 billion in 2020-21 to $ 12.1 billion for 2021-2022.

The district has seen a drop in tuition fees for enrollment, dropping districts from $ 11.1 million to $ 11 million.

Kelley said of the entire budget, which was unanimously approved by the board on Wednesday: “It was a long way to get here. We started in the fall with our first presentations. We presented the budget and we saw the budget approved by the county office. “

He noted that the budget will include some new and current courses and programs.

“When it comes to the overall budget, some points we want to make sure we get across are that it continues a number of the programs that we have,” he said.

He noted that the district’s partnership with the Atlantic Cape Community College, which allows students to earn college credit while still in high school, will continue.

And online courses will still be offered for some high school courses over the next school year.

Kelley added that new studies will also be offered.

“We are looking to offer African American studies and to expand the offer of television programs,” he said.

At the end of Kelley’s presentation, Education Council member Jacqueline McAlister asked about state aid.

“Mr. Kelley, in any of your county and state meetings, are there any rumors about state aid?” McAlister said.

He replied, “I haven’t heard of any rumbling. If that were to happen, we have grants that we can top up in the event that state aid is reduced. Last year, we saw a decrease in aid of $ 85,000 and we were able to allocate a surplus to cover it. “