Board OKs 2019 budget, no tax change
MONTGOMERY TWP. >> The 2019 budget for Montgomery Township is moving ahead, with familiar news for township taxpayers.
Finance Director Ami Tarburton outlined the preliminary 2019 budget Monday night, saying tax levels will remain flat and the township will take advantage of a surplus from the current year.
“Over the past couple of months, the board has met with staff, department heads, and representatives of component units, to build a preliminary budget for 2019,” Tarburton said.
“At this point, we are projecting a 2018 surplus of about $750,000, while retaining a $3 million gen-
eral fund balance, and that’s 20 percent of our 2019 expenditures,” she said.
The roughly $14.8 million general fund budget keeps real estate tax levels at the current 1.49 mills, the same level the township has held since 2006, and allows residents to take a homestead exemption of up to $30,000. Next year’s expenses are projected to be within one percent of 2018 levels, up by roughly $130,000 from $14.7 million to $14.8 million, according to Tarburton.
“We’ve included transfers to capital reserves for our road replacement plan, of $253,000, and to our equipment replacement plan of $478,000,” Tarburton said.
Roughly 36 percent of the township’s projected income will come from earned income taxes, projected at roughly $5.35 million with smaller portions from business and real estate tax revenues at $4.6 million (26 percent) and $1.8 million (13 percent) respectively. The township’s police department projects to be roughly 50 percent of total township expenditures, with roughly $6.9 million budgeted for police salaries and equipment, and the next largest categories are $2.3 million for public works (18 percent), $1.3 million for administration (10 percent), and $1.7 million in interfund transfers.
Salaries and wages for township employees will increase as per agreements with those employee groups, Tarburton told the board, including a three percent increase for township professional firefighters, a 3.5 percent for uniformed police, and the possible addition of a third full time employee in the township’s information technology department.
Major capital expenses planned in 2019 include the purchases of two new police cars, two new trucks and a new excavator for the Public Works department, two new vehicles for the Department of Fire Services, and reconstruction of a tennis court near Fellowship Park.
The most notable change to the budget, Tarburton told the board, was a reduction by $145,000 in the amount the township transfers into its debt service fund. According to Tarburton, the township pays down roughly $500,000 per year on debt incurred in 2013 to build the township’s recreation and community center, and after a 2016 refinancing, the real estate tax millage that normally
goes to debt payments was not needed in 2017 or 2018. In 2019, the smaller transfer is meant to draw down the balance already in that fund, and in 2020 and after, the full debt service millage will again be used.
“The debt service fund balance has been more than we’ve needed to pay the debt service, and there’s really no other way to use up that money,” Tarburton said.
“There’s a balance sitting in that fund, so we just want to draw that down, so it’s not just sitting there,” she said. “After this year, then the whole debt service millage will go back up, to cover that annual debt service payment. We’re right on schedule.”
The township’s supervisors voted unanimously on Nov. 12 to adopt a preliminary 2019 budget, and a draft will now be on display for public review at the township building and online for 20 days. The motion approving the draft budget also set a date of Dec. 17 for the board to grant final approval of the budget, during the supervisors meeting that starts at 8 p.m. that night.
Tarbutron also presented, and the supervisors also approved, a formal amendment updating the township’s 2018 budget for expenses they incurred but had not yet accounted for.
“We do have a budget amendment because of damage created by the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive insect from Asia. The board has awarded contracts throughout 2018 for the ash tree removal program, that total about $418,000,” Tarburton said.
Those totals are based on contracts already awarded for the first through third phases of tree removal from various township parks, which have all been vetted and recommended through the township’s Shade Tree committee. Those contracts have totaled roughly $238,000 so far, plus a fourth phase that’s currently in the bidding process and is estimated to cost around $180,000, she
said.
“It’s currently at $20,000. We’re adding $418,000,” Tarburton said, to bring that line item to a total of $438,000.
“Gotta love those bugs,” board Chairwoman Candyce Fluehr Chimera replied.
Tarburton also gave an update on the township’s budget outlook through the third quarter of 2018. As of the end of September, the township’s general fund balance has dropped slightly to $5.5 million from $5.8 million at the same time last year, which she said was due mostly to expenses climbing from the prior year.
Total tax revenue has climbed to $10,371,024, up by 0.3 percent from $10,335,189 in 2017, with permit and license revenue up by 6.8 percent to $1,096,293 from $1,026,346 the prior year, and other revenue sources totaling $911,027, up by 0.8 percent from $904,130 in 2017.
“In summary, our revenues
have increased just one percent, showing that most of our revenue sources are beginning to level off,” Tarburton said.
Expenses are up by roughly three percent, from $8.162 million in 2017 to $8.394 million in 2018, with the biggest increase being a roughly ten percent increase in Public Works department costs, from $1.374 million last year to $1.504 million at the same point in 2018.
“We’ll continue to focus on cost containment initiatives to curtail any further increases in our expenses. Overall, we are within our 2018 budget parameters, and we are on target with both revenues and expenses,” she said.
Montgomery Township’s supervisors next meet at 8 p.m. on Nov. 26 at the township administration building, 1001 Stump Road. For more information visit www.Mongomery Twp.org or follow @ MontTwp on Twitter.
“There’s a balance sitting in that fund, so we just want to draw that down, so it’s not just sitting there. After this year, then the whole debt service millage will go back up, to cover that annual debt service payment. We’re right on schedule.” — Finance Director Ami Tarburton