Lower Introduces an Almost 2-Cent Tax Increase Budget

VILLAS – Lower Township’s 2021 municipal budget introduced at the March 1 Township Council meeting includes a 1.99-cent tax increase. 
Lower Township Manager Michael Laffey attributed the increase to reduced revenues due to the pandemic.
Revenues from court fees, recreation and state aid wereaffected by the pandemic and led to the rise in the tax rate of the $22,190,956 budget. The municipal purpose tax rate for 2021 is 60.4cents, or $604 per $100,000 of assessed value of a property.
The budget includes $4 million in surplus funds used to offset the budget. The surplus fund balance will be $3.5 million.
Good news included a tax collection rate of 98.99%, which helps lower budget costs.
The 2021 budget follows a zero-tax increase in 2020.
Township Auditor Leon Costello and Chief Financial Officer Lauren Reed presented the budget. Costello told Council that the township remained $1.6 million under what the state allows them to spend.
“The rise in taxes is not a spending problem, it’s a revenue problem. I think we’re going to see a lot of tax increases in the county in the twos,” Costello said.
Councilman Thomas Conrad said he’s not happy about the tax increase.
“Don’t like it, don’t want it, but sometimes, it’s necessary,” Conrad said.
The public hearing on the budget is set for 7 p.m. April 5. Copies of the proposed budget are available at Township Hall, 2600 Bayshore Rd., in Villas, or on the township’swebsite, www. townshipoflower.org.