WOODBINE – Mayor William Pikolycky announced that the Borough of Woodbine introduced the Borough Budget for 2020, at its March 19 council meeting.
According to a release, this year’s spending plan calls for a local purpose tax rate of $0.233 per $100 of assessed value. That is the same as 2019, and as a result, for the 30th consecutive year, the local purpose tax rate has not increased.
The municipality has positioned itself to have one of the lowest Local Purpose Tax rates in the county and the state.
This means that a property assessed at $100,000 would pay $233 in Local Purpose Tax.
The 2020 spending plan calls for a total budget of approximately $3 million. This includes the budgets for the water/sewer utility, with a total spending plan of $562,850 and the airport utility, with a total spending plan of $587,950 (excluding all current year grants).
In addition, the borough will be administering a number of projects throughout this year that were previously funded.
It is pursuing additional grant funding for airport, water, parks, and bikeways, and other infrastructure projects.
“I take great pride in noting that as mayor for the past 30 years we have never increased the local purpose tax rate and our financial position remains strong as does our fund balance,” noted Pikolycky. “We continue to pursue grant funding from federal, state, county, and other sources, which will allow us to leverage our municipal funds to the fullest extent possible without having to raise our local purpose tax.”
The public hearing on the municipal budget will be held at the April 16, Borough
Council meeting, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Mayor’s Budget Message (as prepared for delivery):
As Mayor, I am pleased to submit the Woodbine Municipal Budget for 2020.
Both I and the governing body have worked with the Borough’s Chief Financial Officer, to ensure that State mandates are fully complied with while assuring fiscal responsibility and employing best practices to stay under the 2% Levy Cap.
The Governing Body, through its Revenue and Finance Committee, is recommending this year’s spending plan which calls for a local purpose tax rate of $0.233, which is the same as 2019, and as a result, for the 30th consecutive year the local purpose tax rate has not increased. The municipality has now positioned itself to have one of the lowest Local Purpose Tax rates in the County and throughout the State. This means that a property assessed at $100,000 would pay $233 in Local Purpose Tax.
Our 2020 budget calls for a total spending plan of $1,790,008 (excluding Federal and State Grants).
This budget maintains the ongoing level of services and programs that Borough residents have received in past years.
Also included are the budgets for the water/sewer utility, with a total spending plan of $562,850, and the airport utility, with a total spending plan of $587,950 (excluding grants).
This budget does not include pending grant applications. There is a greater need than ever to attempt to secure increasingly competitive State and Federal funding, given that State aid has remained flat for several years. Grant awards are received throughout the year and are added to the budgeted amounts. This can cause a large disparity between the budget presented for the current year in comparison to the final budget of the prior year.
The Borough collects a total tax of approximately $2,876,000. Of that amount the Borough only keeps approximately $410,000, which is 14.5% of the total. Thus only 14.5 cents out of every tax dollar collected remains in the Borough. The School receives 70.4 cents out of every dollar collected, and the County 15.1 cents.
Our ratable base remained stable during 2019 and our tax collection rate remained stable, due to the diligent practices of our tax collection office.
Through best management practices and shared services, Woodbine has continued to cover municipal needs without any additional tax burden. Additionally, we continue to successfully obtain grant funding from federal, state, and other sources, allowing us to leverage our municipal funds to the fullest extent possible.
This has allowed the Borough to improve and maintain our infrastructure. For 2020, the Borough has budgeted to receive or administer approximately $573,000 in grants for needed projects, both throughout the Borough and through its Airport and Water and Sewer Utilities, bringing the total 2020 budget to $2,417,441.
Through shared services with local, County, and State entities, the Borough will
continue to pursue cost savings. These collaborations allow us to ensure cost savings with no reduction, and in some cases, an expansion of services.
Although our ratable base has long been stable, like many other municipalities we have experienced a decrease in recent years. During that time, a combination of fiscally responsible use of surplus, along with responsible budgeting and use of best practices, grant funds, stable debt service, increased tax collection rate, and expanding shared services allowed the Borough to continue to maintain a zero percent increase in the Local Purpose Tax rate, without any loss of services to Borough residents.
The Borough continues to promote and ensure the quality of life, health, safety, and welfare of our present and future residents in a fiscally responsible manner.
I would like to thank the Borough Council, appointed officials, members of our Boards, Commissions, Borough employees, Borough consultants, and shared service partners for their dedication to the improvement and sustainability of the Borough.
William Pikolycky
Mayor
