Chart depicting projected expenditures for Towamencin Township in 2025, as presented to the township’s supervisors on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Screenshot of meeting video)
First year with no increase since 2021
For the first time in four years, a new year will not bring any increased costs from Towamencin Township to taxpayers.
The township supervisors voted Wednesday night to advertise a 2025 budget keeping taxes and sewer fees level.
“At this time, we are not proposing any property tax increase, we’re not proposing any new borrowing, and the sewer rental fee will remain the same and will not increase for 2025,” said township Manager David Kraynik.
Last December the township’s supervisors approved an $18.5 million township budget with the second increase in sewer rates in three years, following a sewer rate increase approved in 2021 for 2022 and tax rate increase approved in 2022 for ’23.
Those increases left the township’s property tax millage at 5.689 mills, yielding an average resident’s tax bill of $626 based on an average assessed value of $160,000, and the sewer rate of $590 per year can now be paid in installments following adoption of a new billing platform this summer.
The 2025 budget has been developed via a series of public workshop meetings, Kraynik and new finance director Eric Reinbott told the board, with capital requests, operational budgets and year-end projections for 2024 from each department then vetted by staff and the supervisors over the past several weeks
"Last week, we conducted our final budget work session. At that session, we were asked to look at some revenue items, to see if there was money we could free up to do things," Kraynik said.
In the 2025 budget, the largest single expense item is roughly $4.48 million in police costs, largely salary and benefits for officers, which Reinbott said comprises 33 percent of the overall operating budget.
The next-largest expense items are all about $2 million each, with roughly that amount allocated for debt service, for public works and parks, and for general government administration; smaller allocations include a $750,000 transfer for capital projects; $639,000 for code, planning and zoning costs; $502,000 for fire costs, and $890,000 for insurance and overhead.
"'General government' includes administrative staff, IT costs, routine building maintenance, and tax collection — that's about 14 percent of budget," Reinbott said.
Budget breakdown
On the revenue side of the budget, real estate tax revenue is projected to be just above $5 million or about 40 percent of all revenue, while earned income taxes are projected to be about $4.2 million or 33 percent of revenues — "previously, I was a little too conservative in budgeting" that line item, Reinbott said, thus a minor update.
Chart depicting annual debt service payments for Towamencin Township from 2025 through 2035, as presented to the township's supervisors on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Screenshot of meeting video)The finance director then showed a bar chart of total township debt, color-coded to represent different borrowings, and how payments are scheduled to steadily decrease over the next decade. The 2025 budget includes about $2.7 million in debt payments, the same as in 2024, with the largest component going to a 2019 township infrastructure borrowing that will be paid off the next year, when debt service drops to just over $2 million for 2026 and then $1.5 million for 2027-31.
"Debt service will fall by about half a million dollars from 2025 to 2026, and scheduled debt service in 2027 is about $1.2 million lower than current levels," he said.
Capital projects tackled or started in 2024 include widening of Weikel Road, bathroom lighting upgrades at Fischer's Park, upgrades to the snack stand and restrooms at Bustard Park, and a new roof atop the township administration building on Troxel Road, the manager told the board.
Operational expenses new in the current year include a full time fire marshal added under the oversight of the code department — "he's had a very positive effect," Kraynik said — alongside a switch to a new online bill payment platform, filling several vacant employee positions, and changes in township investments to take advantage of high interest rates.
Planned capital projects for 2025 will include stormwater improvements and sewer interceptor replacement work along the Skippack Creek, grant-funded upgrades to the traffic signal at Sumneytown Pike and Forty Foot Road; possible installation of a long-discussed new signal at Forty Foot and Newbury Way, and right-of-way acquisition for widening of the intersection of Welsh and Orvilla Roads, Reinbott said.
Smaller projects are also planned at several township parks, and $100,000 is allocated to fund the design and engineering for a Veterans Memorial Park on Allentown Road.
Average tax bills
After outlining the projects included in the budget, the finance director then showed a breakdown of the annual tax bill for the average resident: based on an assessed property value of $160,000, and applying the township's homestead exemption of $50,000, that resident would pay a tax bill of $4,678 to the school district, or 76 percent of the total; $828 or 14 percent to Montgomery County, and $626 or 10 percent to the township.
"Without the homestead exemption, the average residents' property tax would be $910," thus a $284 savings by claiming the exemption, Reinbott said.
Kraynik added thanks to each department head for working through their requests in recent months, all residents who gave feedback during the workshops, and the various volunteer committees and boards that added their own input. The only comment on the budget came from supervisor Kofi Osei, who said he'd prefer to approve a small tax increase for 2025 to add revenues for expenses in future years, including possible traffic safety upgrades, sewer infrastructure work, added police staffing, and park projects.
"I'm fine raising a few percentage every year, just to keep up with inflation," he said.
All five supervisors then voted unanimously to advertise the budget for public feedback, and board Chairman Chuck Wilson said a final vote to adopt would be scheduled for the board's Dec. 11 meeting. Towamencin's supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 26 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road; for more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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