Lower’s Budget Keeps Local Tax Rate Level

VILLAS – Lower Township Administrator James Ridgway presented his “working budget” at the Feb. 5 Council meeting. The plan features a “zero-tax increase” that results in an increase of $66,175 in actual tax revenue to the township.  
The budget’s total appropriations are $28,196,730 that is down $274,465 from the 2017 budget.
Ridgway announced that the township completed 2017 with a surplus of $7,146,360 in its coffers; the township is using $3,002,000 of that surplus to balance this year’s budget without a tax increase.
The 2017 Local Tax Rate of $0.574 per $100 of assessed value is unchanged in the 2018 budget which the township will submit to the state for approval by April 20. The amount to be raised by taxes is $20.86 million.
Ridgway touted cost savings from capped union contracts, shared services agreements with neighboring municipalities, and the county cooperative as reasons why the tax rate will remain unchanged in 2018.
Ridgeway stated, “This budget plans for fully funding our Independence Day festival, additions to our police department as well as a new full-time secretary in Planning and Construction.”
Ridgway further noted, “We have a well-planned capital program planned for 2018. We have made sure that these capital projects don’t affect the taxpayers in a negative fashion,” referring to the new county dispatch costs, and utility costs for the refurbished Public Safety Building.
The council approved this working document by a 4-0 vote (Councilman Perry was absent) Feb. 5; the public hearing on the proposed budget will be March 19, at 7 p.m. in Lower Township Municipal Building, 2600 Bayshore Road, Villas.
Copies of the budget summary will be available on the township website, in the Township Clerk’s office at Township Hall, and here on the Herald’s website.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.