Media OKs ‘neutral’ tax rate in 2021 budget
MEDIA » Council passed several finance items including the 2021 General Fund Budget of $10.2 million. The “key takeaway,” said Councilman Peter Williamson, finance committee chair, was that the millage rate would remain neutral.
Taxpayers are likely to have some math homework to figure taxes after the countywide reassessment. A single percentage cannot be used since individual assessments could result in the essentially the same tax amount, an increase, or possibly a decrease. The 2020 tax rate was 3 mills; the adjustment after reassessment changes the rate to 1.41 mills.
As is always the case with the borough’s revenue stream, property tax is less than 14 percent, projected at about $1.4 million. The borough Act 511 taxes, including the Earned Income Tax, collect 48 percent, about $5 million. A wide variety of other categories constitute the remaining revenue.
Williamson had a thorough and comprehensible presentation of revenue and expenditures for the General Fund, as well as several smaller funds. Outstanding of those was the Capital Fund of about $6 million which listed planned projects and a number of grants to support the costs.
To explain, in part, why the property tax was calculated to be “neutral,” Williamson said the borough “has been prudent” in its spending and has built a cash reserve — essentially savings — of about $5 million. About $600,000 will be transferred from savings, rather than cut items from operating funds.
Williamson cited a loss directly resulting from to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying “our parking revenue crashed.” The estimate for 2020 had been $700,000, but actual had been far less when employee parking and general business drastically diminished. The
2021 revenue projection for parking was $840,000. The anticipated increase will be from the change to kiosks in parking areas throughout the borough. Midyear the parking fee is scheduled to change to $1.00 per hour (from
.50), making it comparable with other municipalities in the region.
In another comment on a specific budget line, Williamson said the borough will renegotiate an agreement with the Media Upper Providence Library relative to an initial loan and continuing repayment.
Councilman Paul Robinson remarked on the importance of budget presentation. Referring to what Williamson called the “extraordinariness” of the 2020 budget, Robinson said such a document is “fluid” and — as Williamson indicated — a planning tool that depends on projections.