$30M Limerick Budget for 2020 Won't Raise Taxes

Photo by Evan Brandt

Limerick Supervisors Chairman Ken Sperring Jr., left, thanks state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist., for delivering a check for state grants to the township totaling more than $1 million at Tuesday night's meeting.

Limerick Supervisors Tuesday night voted unanimously to advertise a $30 million budget for 2020 that holds the line on property taxes for another year.

Assistant Township Manager Beth DiPrete outlined the $5.5 million in capital projects previously approved by the supervisors during prior budget workshops.

The police will receive three new vehicles; public works a new truck and some more expensive items.

They include just under $4 million for a new Linfield fire station. The township has already built a new firehouse for the Limerick Fire Company and the two merged last year to improve efficiencies.

Also on the docket are new sidewalks on Lewis Road. The township will spend $328,000 out of its capital reserve to match a state grant of $783,421, which was part of the money Ciresi ceremoniously delivered Tuesday.

Here's a video of what he had to say:


Another $200,000 from the capital reserve provided the 50 percent grant match for another $200,000 from the state to fund the first phase of improvements to Limerick Community Park according to the master plan developed last year.

Another $48,000 in state funding will help to pay for new bus shelters.

The budget also includes funding for improvements at Route 422's Sanatoga Interchange, a project the township has undertaken in partnership with Lower Pottsgrove Township. Limerick's share of $618,000 was funded by traffic impact fees charged to developers.

The design of the $522,000 realignment of Royersford Road which will occur in 2020 will also be drawn from developer impact fees, said DiPrete.

Limerick's capital reserve fund is so flush thanks to the sale last year of the township's sewer system for $75 million to Aqua Pennsylvania.

Township Manager Dan Kerr told the supervisors that after the sewer system's debt was paid off, the township had about $58 million in the capital account.

Interest rates were so favorable that the account climbed to $62 million. After the capital projects for 2020 are subtracted the fund will only be down by about $1 million "from where we started," said Kerr.

"We're getting things done, but we're still trying to protect that fund," he said.

The budget will available for public review in the township office and up for final adoption by the supervisors next month.

Now, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

No Tax Hike for Limerick in 2020