Budget OK’d with no tax hike

Moment of silence in memory of township volunteer Ellis Kriebel

LOWER SALFORD >> Next year’s budget, given final approval at the Lower Salford Township Board of Supervisors Dec. 5 meeting, keeps the township property tax rate at 2.689 mills for the fifth year in a row.

“We’re in a rut, but it’s a pretty good rut,” board Chairman Doug Gifford said.

The 2.689 mill rate puts the bill at $529.15 for a home assessed at the township average of $196,784, budget information says. Each mill equals $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value.

With a budgeted $8,930,616 of expenses, the general fund includes $1,062,653 for administration; $3,318,064 for police and fire protection;

$1,357,032 for public works and $1,207,465 for employee benefits. Property taxes are projected to bring in $2,192,878 with earned income taxes bringing in another $3,400,000.

The 2.689 mill rate includes 2.034 mills for the general fund, 0.095 mills for the park fund, 0.33 mills for the library fund, 0.18 mills for the fire fund and 0.05 mills for the ambulance fund.

In other matters:

• The meeting began with a moment of silence

for township resident Ellis Kriebel, who died on Dec. 2 at age 95.

“If you had anything to do with the community, you knew Ellis,” Gifford said.

Kriebel served for more than 50 years with the fire company and ambulance, as well as having been a judge of elections and on the zoning hearing board, Gifford said.

“Ellis was one of the most dedicated community volunteers I’ve ever met,” Gifford said.

Similar to former President George H. W. Bush, whose Washington D.C. funeral was held on Dec. 5, Kriebel was a member of the greatest generation and had served in World

War II, Gifford said.

• Dick Prescott, Lower Salford’s representative to the 11-town Northern Montgomery County Recycling Commission, said the group received a total of $388,821 of recycling money from the state this year.

“Lower Salford’s share comes to $42,498.66,” he said.

The money is for recyclables collected in the township in 2016, he said.

The money comes from a fee charged by the state to recyclables haulers, but only 60 percent of the money comes back to local municipalities, with the state using the other 40 percent for other expenses, Prescott said.