Last Wednesday, Lansdale Borough Council voted unanimously to pass the 2021 Budget, which includes no new taxes or tax increases. The borough budget, millage and electric/sewer rates will remain flat for another year, despite one of the most difficult budgeting years in recent memory due to the ongoing challenges related to the pandemic.
Specifically, the millage rate remained at 5.75 for another fiscal year. Budgets, as you might suspect, are estimated spends based on what is believed to occur in the coming year. However, peering into 2021 and trying to predict our future was like trying to see through fog while blindfolded.
As with all budgets, it is a planned way of maintaining operations for the borough and all the services the borough provides while funding projects and infrastructure improvements that need to occur across the community. All of which is reconciled against income (taxes, electric, sewer, and other fees like cable and pole attachments). The income side of our ledger is predictable. There is an annual percentage of the population that sell their homes every year, there is a population of people who will not pay their taxes (about $100,000 worth), and there is a reliable percentage of people who will (and wont) pay their electric and sewer bills. Where we start to get into some guess work is when we need to predict how much money we might get from the state, usually in the form of liquid fuels taxes, due to the pandemic this number is likely to be much lower than we have historically seen in previous years. Obviously, when budgeting against unknowns, we use a conservative estimate on what we expect that decrease to be and go from there.
The expenditure side of the borough budget is a challenge. We need to reconcile incomes with needed improvements to the community. As is typical, our “wish list” of projects always far exceeds our means. In the coming year we have prioritized needed infrastructure improvements to our electric, sewer and roadway systems. In addition, we have fully funded our parks and police departments to continue to provide key recreational and safety services. Specifically, the police department’s budget has remained steady over the last three years with significant cost savings being achieved through a decrease in overtime expenditures. In 2020, these savings helped fund our purchase of body worn cameras which will be deployed in 2021. Additionally, the police department will be looking to add new officers to the department in as we have had several retirements in 2020.
Despite all the fog of what is to come, borough staff, council and myself were able to build a balanced budget without factoring in any rate increases in 2021. As we learned throughout 2020, there are going to be curveballs thrown our way which may impact our budget throughout the year. However, as a community, we can rely on the fact that we have again held the line for our residents and our constituents to make 2021 start off a little better.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope you are all staying safe throughout this holiday season.
To calculate your borough tax, multiply the millage rate (5.75) by your homes assessed value (which can be found here) and then divide by 1,000.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Shutdown, Again
Mayoral Musings: Continuing To Address Postal Issues In Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: Overcoming Pandemic Challenges Over The Holidays
Mayoral Musings: Wishing All A Safe And Happy Thanksgiving
Mayoral Musings: Operation Package Protectors
