No tax hike in $2.8M 2021 budget

WEST POTTSGROVE » Township property taxes won’t be going up in 2021.

Monday night, township commissioners unanimously adopted a $2,864,446.60 budget for the coming year.

The millage, which was raised by .5 mills last year, a 20 percent increase, will remain at

3 mills.

Last year’s tax hike was the first in six years.

“We understand the fiscal situation families are facing in the township and we worked very hard to reduce expenses,” said

Township Manager Scott Hutt.

The budget benefitted from $320,000 begin carried over from the 2020 budget as well as $875,670.22 being pulled from reserves to cover the gap between revenues and expenses.

The draw down of the reserve fund is not as high as it has been in some years — $1.8 million in 2012, $1.9 million in 2013 and $1.3 million in 2019 — but it continues a worrisome trend.

That reserve fund is comprised largely of the proceeds from the tipping fees Waste Management Inc. paid during the time the Pottstown Landfill was operating, and the interest and investment revenue from that pot of money.

The landfill closed in 2009 and since then the township has been drawing down on its reserve fund, which once stood at $40 million.

Last year, the reserve fund stood closer to $15 million and at the time, Commissioners Chairman Steve Miller said auditors had told officials that “if we keep going the way we’re going, we’re going to be in trouble in seven years.”

“We understand the fiscal situation families are facing in the township and we worked very hard to reduce expense.”

— Township Manager Scott Hutt