Budget has no tax hike for 13th straight year

You won’t find too many taxpayers in this township who believe 13 is an unlucky number.

Because 13 is now the number of consecutive years that township government has passed a budget without calling for any kind of tax hike.

With Supervisor Andrew Kelly absent, the four remaining supervisors voted unanimously to advertise the nearly $12 million 2018 draft budget after a presentation on the revamped and reorganized budget won Township Manager Jamie Gwynn some rare applause from the supervisors.

If $12 million sounds a lot big

ger than last year, that’s because Gwynn has put all of the budgets for the different funds into one easy-toread document.

So the general fund, which pays for police, parks and recreation, some public works accounts for about half in terms of expenditures,

$5.8 million.

The capital fund calls for spending $1.2 million. The sewer fund will spend $4.7 million and the pension funds $192,000 — all adding up to $11,993,403.

And if you want to know what the plans are for that money, check out Gwinn’s “letter of transmittal,” a 15-page letter that outlines major spending plans and other matters of financial interest.

The budget it helped by the fact that there is a $2.6 million fund balance and the general fund — whose millage has not changed in 20 years — calls for spending $5.8 million.

Real estate taxes only generate $745,750 in revenue for the general fund whereas the earned income tax brings in more than $2 million, according to Gwynn’s budget.

The real estate millage

will remain at 1.68 mills, which means for a home assessed at the township’s median value — $166,725 — the tax bill will remain $280 per year, or $23 per month.

Highlights of the budget proposal include making a part-time police officer, part-time zoning clerk and part-time sewer worker to full time and additional hours for a seasonal parks and recreation employee.

At Monday night’s meeting, Gwynn also said police will see a replacement vehicle as well as the purchase of Tasers.

A sign of the improved housing market can be found in the budget’s prediction that despite dropping every year since 2014, permit fees are expected to rise next year — to a total of $241,000 — “as approved developments to continue to develop new residential units.”

The budget is also prepared to pay up to $685,000 this year to pave “at least 10 miles” of the 80 miles of road in the township.

The budget is available for public inspection at the township offices or at the web site — www.newhanover-pa.org/ — and will be adopted in its final form at a meeting in December.