Towamencin Approves 2024 Budget with $140 Sewer Rate Increase

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

A 2024 budget with Towamencin’s second sewer rate hike in three years is now on the books.

The township supervisors voted unanimously last week to adopt the budget, keeping taxes level but authorizing a hike to the sewer charge for the average equivalent dwelling unit.

"This will establish the annual sewer rate of $590 an EDU — it is not the same rate as 2023, that’s an increase,” said board Chairman Chuck Wilson.

In November, township staff presented the result of a series of budget workshops held throughout October: an $18.5 million draft budget that funds the township’s police department, parks and public works staff, $2 million in debt service payments, and various capital projects throughout the township.

At that time residents questioned the need for the sewer rate increase, raising a charge that had been held level at $375 annually from 2008 through 2021, then was increased to $450 starting in 2022, and will now go up by $140 or roughly 31 percent for 2024.

Sewer rates have been discussed at length during the ongoing debate about selling the township’s sewer system, as the supervisors have argued the sale could benefit residents by lowering taxes and paying down debt, while sale opponents have held that a private owner of the sewer system could dictate even steeper sewer rate hikes with no recourse for residents.

On Nov. 8 township staff gave a detailed breakdown of the proposed 2024 budget, its anticipated revenues and expenses, and where that sewer rate hike would go, saying it would largely be allocated to the township’s sewer capital fund for ongoing infiltration and inflow sewer line repairs throughout the township, and to complete a sewer line upgrade along the Skippack Creek while designing similar repairs in the Inglewood neighborhood near Allentown Road.

Based on an average assessed value of $160,000, the average resident’s tax bill will remain $626 at the current tax millage level of 5.689 mills, last raised in 2022 for ’23, per a series of motions approved during the board’s Dec. 13 meeting.

"The board of supervisors authorized the advertising and release for public inspection of the township’s 2024 budget at its November 21st meeting. This resolution will adopt the budget as presented,” Wilson said.

"Highlights include: no property tax increase; millage will remain at 5.689 mills. No new township borrowing planned in 2024,” he said, and the budget maintains the township’s current homestead and farmstead exemptions of $50,000, which qualifying residents can deduct from their assessed values as they calculate their local taxes.

The budget also funds continued sewer line maintenance and upgrades, the township’s annual road paving program, special events and concerts in Fischer’s Park, mostly during summer, and parks capital projects including upgrades planned for Grist Mill Park, the board chairman added. Also included in the budget is the allocation of Towamencin’s remaining federal COVID stimulus funding towards a series of upgrades on Weikel Road that include adding sidewalks and enhancing the stormwater drainage along that roadway.

All five supervisors voted to approve that budget with no discussion, then unanimously approved a series of budget-related resolutions, all with minimal discussion after Wilson read summaries.

Those motions included authorization for staff to transfer up to $500,000 from the sewer capital fund to the general fund to use before tax revenue comes in, then be paid back with interest by the end of the year; a separate resolution ratifying the tax millage rate; another motion reaffirming a $35 annual fee for the township’s North Valley View Way streetlight district, meant to fund the operation and maintenance of six streetlights in that area; two separate motions reaffirming the homestead and farmstead exemptions respectively, and updated fee schedules and investment policy.

Prior to the approvals, public comments on the budget came from two residents, including Bruce Bailey, who questioned why the board had done little to cut spending.

"As a project manager, if I was given a budget to work with, and I’m behind by $1 million, or one percent, or whatever, it’s my job to cut some costs somewhere and keep my project on budget. I’ve talked here before about looking at things, and minimizing spending, and not buying things, and I never hear any feedback, I never hear any discussion. It’s another example of the same thing,” he said.

Vanesa Gaynor asked if the pending sewer sale was addressed in the budget, and why the board did not raise taxes if the township has capital infrastructure needs outside the sewer system that should be funded by revenue outside the sewer rate.

"When we look at our township budget, we’re not seeing any tax increases. So that means that either: you are planning that the sewer sale is not going through, and we don’t need the money, or this budget is being planned with the intention of the sewer sale going through. And that’s why there’s no tax increase,” she said. "The township, which you have told us needs a lot of money coming in, we’re not seeing anything additional coming in, in this budget. I think that’s concerning.”

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Dec. 27 and Jan. 2 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org

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