No tax increase planned for 2021

LANSDALE » At the end of a year that’s seen a pandemic, the subsequent recession, and now a contested election, Lansdale residents look likely to get a bit of good news this fall.

Borough officials reported last week that the town’s 2020 budget appears to have limited the damage from this year’s pandemic, and the 2021 one will likely ask for no tax increase.

“They’re all evenly balanced, every single fund, and not to hint too much about the presentation in two weeks, but they’re all done with no increase to taxes or utility rates. So that’s the good news,” said Finance Director John Ramey.

Each year the borough and its various department heads typically begin budget talks in September and October at the committee level, leading up to a presentation to full council in November, a vote to formally advertise the budget for public inspection, then subsequent adoption in December.

Ramey and borough Manager John Ernst told council’s administration and finance committee on Nov. 4 that they’re still planning

to hold to that timeline, though the Nov. 18 presentation will be done online via Zoom videoconferencing rather than in person as in prior years.

“What I was able to do was re-balance all of the funds, so there’s no increases or decreases budgeted for any fund, to increase or decrease fund balance,” Ramey said.

Outstanding numbers for expected health insurance costs have now been received, Ramey told the committee, and while the first draft of the 2021 budget projected a 5 percent increase, the final number will be 4.03 percent, which translates to a roughly $46,000 savings over the prior draft. T

he second draft of the 2021 budget is now available on the borough’s web

site, and projects total town revenues of $16.58 million, up slightly from $16.2 million in 2020, and total expenditures after transfers of the same amount.

Each fund is broken down in the draft with comparison figures starting in 2019, alongside the 2020 budget estimate figures, the actual figures as of Sept. 30, and the projected year-end 2020 figures that reflect the impact of COVID-19 and the associated business shutdowns.

“One of the things I did do, going through the budget this year, was that I was curious about how accurately we’ve been budgeting. I went back, the last three years, and broke it down, to the revenue and expense sides,” Ramey said.

In 2017 borough revenue projections ended up 2.2 percent over budget, in 2018 they were 1.8 percent over, and in 2019 were at 1.1 percent over

budget, which translates to about a $430,000 dollar figure, while the total budget amount grew from $14.5 million in the first year to $16.5 million in the third, Ramey told the committee.

On the expense side of the prior budgets, the 2017 final expenses came in within 3.5 percent of projections, in 2018 the final figure was within 2.6 percent, and in 2019 the final was at 1.5 percent within estimates.

Councilman Denton Burnell asked if the 2021 draft budget would include the normal police and public works overtime costs associated with a full slate of town events, which have been called off in 2020 due to the coronavirus.

“We are moving forward in 2021 as if it were a normal budget year, and we’ll have to make adjustments as we start to move through the months, as we get further into the year,”

Ernst said.

Ramey told the committee that the budget figures as of the end of September appear to be making up for the damage caused by COVID.

“Real estate taxes are up $268,000 or about six percent, and as of the end of September were within one-tenth of a percent” of the same time in 2019, Ramey told the committee.

“We are looking at what our staffing levels are, looking at what our expenses are right now, our purchase of supplies, and how we are actually making it through our day-to-day operations,” Ernst said.

“We can look at this as maybe a new standard for how we move forward, and can we work within our limitations right now, moving forward?” he said.

L ans dale’ s borough council next meets online at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.