U.D. OKs increases in taxes and fees for 2020
UPPER DARBY » Taxes and fees are officially going up in Upper Darby after remaining 2020 budgetary measures were passed Wednesday night.
After formal adoption of the $82.3 million budget by township council at its Dec.
4 meeting, council voted 9-2 to increase the millage rate for township properties
.43 mills to 21.38, meaning for every $100,000 a property is assessed at it will be taxed $2,138. This equals to about a 2 percent increase in taxes. The overall millage rate includes .97 mills to be used for debt purposes.
The tax rate was adopted without comment by the public and with mostly biparistan support, though Councilwoman Laura Wentz and Councilwoman and Mayor-elect Barbarann Keffer, both Democrats,
voted against the tax increase.
Wentz said after the meeting that, after initially voting against the budget on Dec. 4, she found problems with the plan and wants to find other revenues to support the budget without tax increases. She proposed an amendment to the budget on Dec. 4 in support of training for council members, tree planting projects and other areas that was not entertained by council.
The budget’s largest expenditure is police services at $31.3 million, followed by fire services at $14.4 million. In 2020, Upper Darby will provide fire protection to Millbourne Borough at an annual rate of $40,000. Millbourne’s fire department officially ceased operations in the spring after being out of service since last fall.
Other expenditures include various insurance payments at $8.2 million and $5.9 million for sanitation.
Trash fees will increase by $45 to $235 per property and sewer rental fees jump
$10 to $215 per equivalent dwelling unit (single-family residential household). The fee for annual housing rental license fees will increase almost 60 percent to
$135 per unit.
There was no discussion of council before setting the tax rate for 2020.
Council also passed a resolution to secure a $5 million tax anticipatory note from Wells Fargo Bank to secure cash flows at the start of the new year before the inflow of real estate taxes come in. The township will pay back the value of the note, plus interest of
2.087 percent, on April 30. Township revenue figures up until that date are expected to be $54.2 million.