UPPER POTTSGROVE Budget cuts taxes 7 percent

Apparently, Congress is not the only legislative body to cut taxes this month.

During its Dec. 18 meeting, the Upper Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners cut the tax levy by nearly 7 percent in its $4,017,896 budget for 2018.

The township’s real estate millage will drop from 4.3 mills to just 4 mills Township Manager Carol Lewis confirmed Dec. 19 — a decrease of 6.97 percent.

Quarterly sewer charges of $215 per quarter remain unchanged, she said.

The budget was balanced and would have kept the tax millage the same as the 2017 rate, as well as create a capital reserve fund of about $600,000.

The reason for the cut, Lewis said, is the decision by the commissioners to forgo a $2 million project to build a new public works garage adjacent to the facility on Heather Place.

The .3 millage was specifically designed for the indebtedness the township would have incurred to pay for the project.

More than a year in the planning, the project was scuttled after scores of residents showed up at an October special meeting at Pottsgrove Middle School to op- pose it.

More than $80,000 in designs, bids and permits had already been spent to move the sevenbay, 12,000 square-foot solarpowered highway garage project forward.

The current township facility was built in 1967 and is 5,050 square feet with three bays and 648 square feet of office space and is home to the police as well as the public works department.

Plows, graders, salt spreaders, pumps, mowers and other expensive equipment must all be kept outside due to lack of room.

The salt shed, which is falling down, only holds 150 tons of salt, just 25 tons more than is required to treat the townships roads for one three-inch snow storm. The new facility included a 2,000 square-foot salt shed with a capacity for 600 tons of salt,

After the rejection of the project, a new committee of those citizens who offered less expensive alternatives was formed and they continue to explore the issues.

Lewis said money in the $600,000 capital reserve fund could be used to pay for engineering, architect and other fees should their effort prove successful

The final budget levies a rate of 3.4 mills for general purposes and another .6 mills for fire protection, said Lewis.