$1.3M From Reserves Balances W. Pottsgrove Budget

Photo by Evan Brandt

From left, West Pottsgrove Police officer Robert Radswallas, Det. Tim Roeder and Chief Matthew Stofflet.

Two West Pottsgrove Police officers and their chief were recognized Wednesday night by the Montgomery County Crisis Team for the role they played as part of the Western Montgomery SWAT team that dealt with a five-hour stand-off with an armed subject in Limerick in January in which no one was hurt.

Officers from each municipality involved in the SWAT team have been recognized at their respective municipal meetings throughout the year.

Police were recognized in another way Wednesday night, when the reading of the proposed $3,069,414 budget for 2018 included an $105,842 increase in the police budget, which now stands at $1,455,531, according to Township Manager Craig Lloyd.

An 18 percent increase in heath insurance costs for the coming year means a hike of $57,000, $36,000 of which is attributable to the police department.

Other costs, which Police Chief Matthew Stofflet chalked up to one new police cruiser and "the increasing cost of operations," includes a 2.5 percent raise for police personnel.

That comes on top of a 2.5 percent increase least year and a 3.5 percent coming in 2019, according to Lloyd.

With only $450,000 coming in from real estate taxes and another $448,000 from other taxes, balancing the budget without a tax increase will require pulling $1,367,079 from the reserves built up from host fees paid over years from the operation of the Pottstown Landfill which, despite the name, was never located in Pottstown proper.

This year's withdrawal is $80,000 than the $1.4 million required last year to balance the 2017 budget.

It must be nice to have a huge bank account created by imposing environmental risks on your neighbors.

One of these days, West Pottsgrove may have to learn to live within its means.

Here are the Tweets from last night's meeting.