As a courtesy to our SHPOA Members, we’re bringing you a summary of each Stone Harbor Work Session and Council Meeting. Intended as summaries, these intentionally don’t have a lot of details and are not a substitute for the official Borough minutes.

Work Session
Stone Harbor Borough’s Council celebrated Paxton Smith as the winner of the 2025 Stone Harbor Beach Tag Design Competition. Paxton is a 3rd grader at Stone Harbor Elementary School, who artfully combined a wave and a leaping dolphin design that will be featured on the borough’s 2026 seasonal beach badges.

2026 Budget
Many of the issues discussed during the work session and public comment period focused on the 2026 budget and personnel issues. Council Member Jennifer Gensemer stated that while the process of departmental review is on schedule, it will be necessary to resolve the firefighters’ collective bargaining contract before a forecast can be made that will conform to the state’s appropriations and revenue cap.

Council Member Kenneth Biddick discussed the borough’s effort to restructure Stone Harbor’s Administration and Financial Department, including a proposal to create a new position of Assistant Administrator. He explained that a draft ordinance would create a revised structure for the department, as well as authorize the appointment as a contract position. The assistant administrator would address projects as assigned by the borough and would not receive health care and other benefits. Discussion at the meeting indicated that the ordinance would empower the Assistant Administrator to work on a broad array of commercial and managerial issues, including Stone Harbor’s possible exit from the county’s library system, and receive annual compensation up to $120,000. The ordinance is expected to be introduced at the November 17 Council meeting.

Occupancy Tax
Borough Engineer Marc DeBlasio reported that he is in the process of drafting an ordinance that would levy a 3 percent occupancy tax on hotel and motel rooms, as well as some properties operating as AirBnBs. He noted that the ordinance would have some exceptions and be consistent with state law. He projected that the tax would raise about $750,000 annually.

Regular Meeting
The Council unanimously enacted two ordinances:
Ordinance1698 – amending the Building Construction code regarding Pods and other portable storage units; and
Ordinance1699 – authorizing $675,000 for an emergency appropriation to pay for the reassessment of property tax in the borough.

Council also approved several resolutions, including authorizing a private handicapped parking space on 83rd Street, a site lease agreement between the borough and T-Mobile at 225 95th Street, and an increase of $110,913 for work at 10206 Third Avenue for additional interior work and removal and disposal of asbestos siding, bringing total cost of the affordable housing project repairs to $1,473,913.

Council also agreed to participate in the American Coastal Coalition, a public interest group organized to influence federal policy on conservation issues.

To read legislation discussed at the meeting, please click: http://stoneharbornj.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/REGULAR-MEETING-AGENDA-11-3-2025.pdf
To view a video of the meeting, please click: https://youtu.be/Khh3kistXqU.
NOTE: As you may know, our friends at the Cape May County Herald are offering SHPOA members only an exclusive discount for Herald subscriptions — 25% OFF with code “SHPOA” — and they are also providing your association advertising space in print and online for us to promote the association and the initiatives important to our members.

To subscribe and use the discount, please click on https://capemaycountyherald.com/subscribe/ and use promo code “SHPOA” at checkout to claim your 25% discount. Only valid for new subscribers.
To read past Stone Harbor Council Meeting summaries, please click here: https://www.stoneharborpoa.org/category/borough-meeting-summaries/

To watch recordings of past meetings, please click here: https://stoneharbornj.org/agendameetings/watch-mayor-and-council-meetings-online/