Residents balk at tax hike

Upset that their property taxes spiked this year, residents complained to the board of supervisors March 7, saying they could have used a head’s up before the higher rates took effect.

“Two weeks ago, I opened my county/township tax bill and was truly shocked at the total bill,” said resident Michael Scott. “I pulled out my prior tax years tax bills and compared. This year my township tax is up by over 1,600 percent.”

Combined with Montgomery County’s 11 percent tax hike this year, Scott said the net result was a huge increase in taxes he wasn’t expecting.

“Worse, most of us likely found out about it after the fact,” he said.

The township has tried to be as transparent about this process as possible. Nine public meetings were spent discussing the budget before the millage rate of 1.2 mills was approved, supervisors’ Chairwoman Lisa A Mossie said.

The hike — the sixth lowest in the county, was approved to support emergency services and because Upper Providence is the fastest growing township in the county.

“This budget process was the most transparent and most accessible to the public that we have ever had in this township,” Mossie said. “This board does not take raising taxes lightly. And there was much dissension on the board about that.”

The township, she said, is 91 percent developed, so the board can not continue to rely on real estate transfer taxes to pay for operating costs. Yet the real reason taxes were raised was because the township had to hire five full time firefighters to supplement the volunteer fire companies during the day.

“We were supplementing them with public works employees,” she said. “Those public works employees are aging out. Two of them had heart attacks on fires. They didn’t want to do it anymore.”

Two residents suggested the board develop a code of conduct stating the board will never impose a tax in- crease significantly above the rate of inflation without making a good faith effort to engage taxpayers through a mailing and by meeting with the public.

The township is governed by Pennsylvania law and the board signs an ethics statement every year, Mossie said.

While the township did raise taxes, it’s doing a number of things to keep other costs low, she said. It scrapped the defined benefit retirement plan and now all new hires are under a defined contribution plan. There is currently a full-time hiring freeze in effect. It changed its health insurance plan from a traditional HMO to a high deductible plan. The township also won a significant award in police arbitration this year during contract talks. Lastly, it doesn’t plan to replace some of its employees this year, as some will be phased out while other positions will be privatized.

“We’re always looking for cost cutting ways,” Mossie said. “The increase in fire was really what drove this.”