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April 3-9
Home Market Slowing
At a recent meeting of the Stone Harbor Council, tax assessor Margaret Slavin noted that the number of home sales had significantly decreased from the level that characterized the pace in recent years. Slavin cited nine sales as compared to 25 in the same month last year. Construction official Ray Poudrier supported that perspective, noting that construction activity had leveled out at pre-pandemic rates.
The inventory of homes is up from years when lagging inventory drove price increases. The Federal Reserve of New York reports that the short-term home price expectations dropped sharply in the 2023 survey of consumer expectations.
No one is predicting significant harm to the real estate market in the county, but the hot market that drove prices during and immediately following the pandemic may be returning to a pre-pandemic pace.
If the market slows further, it could provide an opening for much–needed revaluations. Across the county, the assessed value to true value ratio of real estate in many of the island communities would normally have triggered revaluations by now, but no tax board wanted to tackle such projects while prices continued to spiral upward.
As of the end of 2022, the state table of equalized valuations shows Cape May County, as a whole, at a 68% ratio of assessed to true value, well below the 85% ratio that usually can trigger a revaluation.
New CRS Scores
The April 2023 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) list of communities participating in the Community Rating System (CRS) shows a number of towns across the state dropped in their designated class level, sacrificing National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) premium discounts in the process. In Cape May County, three of the 11 participating communities saw class level reductions in 2023.
Sea Isle City moved from a level 3 community to a level 4 with the associated discount available to property owners declining from 35% to 30% as a result. Cape May Point saw its rating drop from a 6 to a 7, which lowered the town discount from 20% to 15%. The biggest single drop in the county was in Stone Harbor, where the borough’s rating declined two levels from a 5 to a 7, taking the discount available to Stone Harbor property owners from 25% to 15%.
Weather
The early prediction for this year’s hurricane season calls for one that is “less active than the majority of seasons since 1995.” That is the word from AccuWeather, where the forecast also cautions that this “doesn’t mean there won’t be dangers.”
2022 was an odd year with no named storms coming from the Atlantic in August. The overall number of named storms last year was 14, much less than what we experienced in 2020 and 2021.
“Current projections indicate that the 2023 season will be near the historical average with 11-15 named storms,” AccuWeather forecasters said.
They say four to eight of those storms will reach hurricane strength, with one to three in the category of a major hurricane. The forecast notes, “Based on the 30-year average from 1990 to 2020, a typical hurricane season consists of 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, three major hurricanes and four direct impacts on the U.S.”
This makes the forecast for 2023 in line with that average.
There is more to come. The annual respected forecast from Colorado State University is due April 13. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast follows May 25.
We can also say goodbye to the La Niña that has been in place for the last three hurricane seasons. Forecasters expect an evolving El Niño by the second half of the summer.
The forecast says, “Hurricane seasons with emerging El Niño patterns tend to be less active than normal.”
All well and good – or least the best we could look for if a hurricane season must be endured. Now, we just have to hope we stay out of the way of one of the big ones that does make landfall.
Happenings
Municipal budgets for 2023 continue to come out and the news is most often a tax hike. This week, North Wildwood adopted its budget with a 3.8–cent tax rate increase. Middle Township introduced its budget containing a 9.2% rise in the local purpose tax rate. Stone Harbor also introduced and the local tax hike was 3.4%. In the Crest, a small tax increase was also part of the new budget at just under 1 cent added to the tax rate. West Wildwood is hitting taxpayers with a 6-cent increase in 2023.
NOAA released its final opinion on the likely impact of the Ocean Wind I offshore wind farm on threatened and endangered species. The conclusion from the agency is that the Ocean Wind I project is “likely to adversely affect but is not likely to jeopardize” the existence of endangered sea life or harm their habitats.”
A number of county municipalities are designating areas in public buildings as restricted areas in reaction to a growing number of citizen ‘First Amendment audits.’
Cape May postponed a vote on a resolution that would have moved employee health benefits out of the state plan and to a joint health insurance fund of 28 local government entities in South Jersey.
A 64–year–old Pine Hill man was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two juveniles in Sea Isle City. The individual is currently lodged at the Cape May County Correctional Facility.
Upper Township honored several of its emergency medical services (EMS) team credited with saving three people on separate occasions from cardiac arrest in a 28-day period.
In Washington, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering new pollution standards that will likely have the effect of driving up the production and sale of electric vehicles.
In Middle Township, a phased repair of over 20 pump stations in the aged sewer system looks like it is paying dividends with reduced Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority fees. Middle had been plagued with rainwater intrusion into its sewer system.
The zoo has announced two new additions to the family. ‘Ariel,’ a female North American River Otter, arrived last month from the Kansas City Zoo and earlier in March, a new Ring-Tailed Lemur baby joined the family.
A group of Ocean City High School students walked out to protest gun violence in the nation’s schools April 5.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now considers Cape May County as an area of low risk for community spread of Covid. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) says that about 50% of the public say they would likely get an annual Covid shot offered like a flu shot.
Upper Township tabled its rental property ordinance in favor of more discussion and public comment.
Mahalo is a word of gratitude but not so just now in Wildwood Crest, where, after an over four-hour meeting, the Planning Board reached no decision on a proposed upscale motel project that is hotly contested by borough residents.
Spout Off of the Week
Cape May County – Smart move by Stone Harbor to pursue legislation restricting public access to certain areas of municipal buildings. We recently saw in Nashville that some of our fellow citizens and several of their legislators, behave in a childlike and inappropriate manner. People cannot be allowed to interrupt or harass officials tasked with public business, and cannot simply be allowed to walk in to do it. It is disappointing we have reached this point in society that this is even necessary, but unfortunately it is. It was, and shall remain, “low class” to not pursue proper channels when one has an issue.
Read more spouts at spoutoff.capemaycountyherald.com.
