VILLAS – The Lower Township Council has introduced a 2025 municipal budget that has a reduction in overall spending of nearly $600,000 but requires a 1.5-cent tax rate increase.

The approximately $35 million budget will be funded in part by about $23.9 million in local property taxes, which is a 3.38% increase over 2024. With the local tax rate to be set at .633 per $100 of assessed value, the owner of a $300,000 home will pay an additional $45 per year in local taxes.

Township Manager Mike Laffey said the biggest spending increases come from salaries and wages.

“We settled four union contracts in 2024, so this budget is the first full year with the negotiated increases,” he said.

New in the budget as well is a $140,000 increase in the salaries and wages in the township manager’s office, with the bulk of it, about $90,000, going for a new, full-time deputy township manager position.

Christina Lewis, who was filling a human resources position, was named deputy manager. Lewis, who was hired in 2024, will continue to perform human resources duties, Laffey said. The remaining funds include a contractual increase in Laffey’s salary and for some other clerical workers.

Salaries increases will be seen in the Department of Revenue and Finance, where they will increase by $39,000 in 2025; the Division of Taxation, by $31,800; the Department of Public Works, by $196,600; the Department of Public Safety, by $293,217; Uniform Fire Safety, by $81,057, and the Construction Office, by $27,800, among others.

The cost of general liability insurance rose by $54,202 in the 2025 budget, and employee group health insurance by $233,595.

The budget includes an additional $27,000 for electricity and $56,000 more for street lighting. The budget amount for natural gas decreased by $60,000, and for gasoline it dropped by $20,000.

The township will pay an additional $25,500 into the Social Security System; $91,813 more into the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System and $75,000 more for Unemployment Compensation Insurance.

The township plans to use $330,000 less surplus this year to help fund the budget: This year it will use $4.5 million of surplus into the budget, compared to $4.83 million in 2024. Laffey said a 99% tax collection rate added almost $1.4 million to the surplus last year.

There will be a public hearing on the budget on Monday, April 7, at 5 p.m.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.