No tax increase for Upper Gwynedd residents
Capital project list is new addition for upcoming years
UPPER GWYNEDD » The news is good for Upper Gwynedd’s taxpayers, and the township has a long to-do list for 2022.
Township manager Sandra Brookley Zadell gave a detailed look at next year’s budget last week, as the commissioners voted ahead a budget keeping taxes level.
“We currently have a balanced budget, requiring no tax increase, for 2022,” Zadell said.
“COVID-19 had far less of an impact on our revenues than we expected,” she said.
Budget talks for the town ship began with a series of subject-specific budget meetings in October, and in early November Zadell previewed the bottom-line results of the budget discussions. On Nov. 16, she added details: revenues and expenses are both balanced at roughly $16.6 million, maintaining 2021 levels of a 2.041 mill tax rate and $30,000 homestead exemption, and several income sources finishing the year higher than initially expected.
“A major factor is that earned income taxes, and local services taxes were very strong — that means employment is very strong within the township, which is very good,” she said.
“The people that work in the township, and the people that live in the township that are employed, seem to be doing well. And it didn’t have a negative impact as much as we expected when we were making the 2021 budget,” she said.
Real estate transfer tax revenues have also come in roughly $159,000 over budget in 2021, and the combination of those increased revenues will allow the board to transfer $1.7 million into capital reserves, while leaving an operating surplus of roughly $21,500 in the general fund.
“The transfer to capital reserves is similar to transferring money from a checking to a savings account. It’s like saving for future capital improvements, and capital improvements in our case are for equipment, major maintenance concerns, things like that,” Zadell said.
As she spoke, the manager showed a series of charts and graphics depicting the township’s various sources of revenue, yearly comparisons showing revenue and expense trends going back to 2019, and the allocations of where the average resident’s tax bill goes for various services. Based
on an average township tax bill of $290, roughly equal portions go to the local police and public works departments, with much smaller proportions then distributed among administration, parks and recreation, code and zoning, and the other departments.
New expenses in the 2022 budget include a filltime township fire marshal/emergency management coordinator, IT upgrades, new phone systems, higher insurance costs due to flooding at the township’s wastewater treatment plant in 2020, police salary increases, and added spending on tree removal in parks. No rate increase is recommended by the township’s wastewater treatment plant, but costs have increased across the board for chemicals, fuel, and energy needed at that plant, over and beyond increases from the recentlyfinished sewer flow diversion project there.
“Some other inflationary costs are driving some increased expenses, such as electric, insurance and gas, which are things I’m sure anyone in the room is familiar with — those costs are going up for all of us,” Zadell said.
Staff and the board have also developed a new fiveyear capital project plan that details over $25 million in projects, totaling 143 needs identified across seven departments in the near future, according to the manager.
“Without these type of planning activities, you can’t really look forward into the future, to see what your liabilities are going to be,” Zadell said.
A breakdown of the funding sources for that capital list is included in the budget presentation, and includes capital reserves, long-term borrowing, grants, state subsidies, sewer flow revenues and more. A onetime revenue source the township can also use is roughly $1.56 million in federal American Recovery Act relief funding, and staff have identified roughly $940,000 in stormwater infrastructure projects eligible for that funding. Those projects include lining of storm sewers in The Villages community along Allentown Road, according to the manager: “new technology to go in and line the pipes, rather than digging the pipes out,” at roughly one-third the cost of the older technique.
“We can also allocate some of this funding toward wastewater projects, so we plan to rebuild our clarifier — this is a huge tank that clarifies wastewater,” and that work will be done over the next two years, Zadell said.
Also on the to-do list for 2022: repairs to a bridge carrying Sumneytown Pike over a small creek just east of West Point Pike, where $1.2 million in grant funding has now been secured, allowing engineering work to be done in the coming year and construction in 2023, according to the manager. Other projects in the works include continued streambank restoration near the wastewater plant, security fencing around township public works and police facilities, a new pole barn to store various parks and recreation equipment, and a road repair list including seven roads slated for microsurfacing and over 20 roads for milling and overlays.
Over the past five years, the township’s general fund reserve balance has climbed steadily, from $9.9 million in 2018 up to $13.1 million projected in 2022, which Zadell said is meant to cover unanticipated expenses.
“The funds are meant to be there to keep us steady, through any potential hard times. The trend, since 2018, has been to have in place between 9.5 and 12.9 months’ worth of spending in reserves, and as the 2022 budget stands today it leaves us with 9.9 months of spending in reserve, and a very strongly-funded capital reserve fund,” she said.
And for those who have asked: total township debt stands at roughly $9.9 million heading into 2022, with a total borrowing base of roughly $21 million should the board decide to borrow for any major expenses.
Resident Fred Hencken asked for details on a pedestrian safety signal project included in the budget presentation, and Zadell said that would fund flashing signals at six locations and flashing crosswalk signs at three more, with grant funding covering roughly 70 percent of that project cost and all sites recommended by township police.
After the presentation, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the budget appropriations, the accompanying tax rate ordinance, and the township’s homestead exemption for 2022, all with minimal discussion except for compliments from the commissioners.
“You covered it very well,” said commissioners President Liz McNaney.
Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place; for more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.