Upper Macungie Township won’t raise taxes in 2023 budget

But residents will pay more for trash and recycling

Upper Macungie Township residents won’t have to worry about a tax hike next year as part of the 2023 budget, officials said during a board of supervisors meeting Thursday night.

The board gave preliminary approval for the budget, which will go before the supervisors again on Dec. 1.

In his presentation of the $42.1 million budget, finance director Bruce Koller said the tax rate would remain at .64 mills. That equates to a township tax bill of about $160 for a home at the average assessed value of $250,000.

“We don’t want to raise taxes unless we have to,” he said. “We have a very good cushion.”

The 2022 budget was $39.8 million. Other changes for 2023, Koller said, include quarterly instead of annual utility bills, and an increase in the refuse and recycling fee from $305 to $320 a year. The shift to quarterly bills was to minimize the chance for late fees, Koller said, while the increase in the recycling fee is due to the increase in service costs from Whitetail Disposal, the contracted disposal company.

The biggest operating expenditure is sewer at over $8 million, according to the presentation, while the biggest capital expenditure is parks and recreation at $4.4 million.

The reason for sewer being the biggest operating expense, Koller said, was because of the need for wastewater treatment and repairing manholes.

The biggest project for parks and recreation is the $4-million township community center, he added.

To pay for the budget, the township will be using about $39 million in revenue and $4 million in leftover 2022 funds.

Some of the most notable projects the township will be taking on next year include work on the township’s community center, improvements to the 20-year-old roof of the police department’s building at $115,000 and the purchase of five additional police vehicles at about $384,000 total to replace older vehicles with extended mileage, Koller added.