PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee approved its 2021 budget (https://bit.ly/3iX3q6G), totaling $15.5 million, at the committee’s June 14 meeting, a bit later than usual because of uncertainty as to how to use federal stimulus funds under the American Rescue Plan (ARP).
The amount of funds will amount to a little more than $1.2 million received over two years for lost revenues due to Covid. According to Leon Costello, Upper’s auditor, now that state guidance came out regarding permitted ways to spend the funds, the committee needed to decide whether to offset a 1.77-cent tax-rate increase in property tax per $100,000 of property value or pay into surplus for rainy-day emergencies using the ARP funds.
During the ensuing discussion, Committee member John Coggins noted that the tax increase would result in about a $4.20 monthly property tax increase on a home valued at the average Upper Township level of about $300,000.
The latter option, i.e., pay into the budget surplus account, was approved through a budget amendment, with Committee member Kimberley Hayes, who wanted to “avoid putting added financial strain on residents after the economic difficulties of Covid,” dissenting.
