West Pottsgrove Commissioners OK 20% Tax Hike

While the U.S. House of Representatives was voting for only the third time to impeach a U.S. president, Wednesday night, local government was at work raising taxes.

With Commissioner Thomas Palladino casting the only "nay" vote, the West Pottsgrove Township Commissioners adopted a $2.8 million budget that will raise property taxes by 20 percent.

The millage rate was raised from 2.5 to 3 mills.

Township Manager Craig Lloyd said the tax hike will generate another $93,000 in revenues.

For a home assessed at $100,000, the township's median, the increased millage will translate into another $40 a year, Lloyd estimated.

It's the first tax increase in six years. It was 2013 the last time the township raised taxes and just like this time, the increase was .5 mills.

During 2012, the township had to pull $1.8 million from its reserve fund and the 2013 budget drew another $1.9 million out of reserves in order to balance the budget.
That reserve fund, proceeds from the tipping fees Waste Management Inc. paid during the time the

Pottstown Landfill was operating.

It closed in 2009 and since then the township has been drawing down on its reserve fund, which once stood at $40 million.

When it was adopted last year, the 2019 budget pulled about $1.3 million from that fund to close the budget gap and avoid a tax hike.

It is now closer to $15 million and Commissioners Chairman Steve Miller said Wednesday night that auditors had told officials that "if we keep going the way we're going, we're going to be in trouble in seven years."

Ironically, the $2,785,792 spending plan for 2020 is less than both last year's $3,067,434 2019 budget total; and even smaller still than the $3.4 million budget in 2013 that raised taxes by 33 percent.

That said, here is a link to the Tweets from last night's travels.