Dec 6, 2017 3 min read

South Strabane Township’s tentative budget for next year includes a 33 percent tax increase.

The board of supervisors approved the proposed budget – a total of $6.56 million plus $278,000 in interfund transfers – on a 4-1 vote last week, with Supervisor Ed Mazur voting against it.

The 0.25-mill tax increase will take the township’s total millage to 1 mill, which will generate about $1.23 million in property taxes for the township, according to township Manager Brandon Stanick.

“What we have to account for is a 2 percent discount for residents who pay their taxes before the deadline, which we anticipate will be about 90 percent of residents,” Stanick said. “That’s money we won’t receive.”

Stanick said the increase will cost the owner of a property assessed at $200,000 $50 more than what they paid the township last year.

In his budget recommendation to the board, Stanick said projected general-fund revenues for next year are about $5.7 million, up 10.4 percent from last year. However, he still recommended to the board a tax-anticipation loan of $400,000 for the first four months of 2018, because the township won’t meet the revenue estimates projected for 2017.

“A pattern of revenue projections not coming to fruition in previous years has also had negative impacts to the township’s financial resources, which also necessitates a more conservative approach to projecting revenues,” Stanick wrote in his recommendation.

He said that in 2017, the township approved hiring two additional police officers, but the 2017 reassessment limited the township to a 10 percent property tax increase, which didn’t cover the wages and benefits of the two new officers.

He said Washington County’s property reassessment reduced township property values by 4.48 percent, affecting revenue for next year.

The township’s proposed budget projects general-fund expenses to be about $5.37 million, down about 2 percent from what was budgeted for 2017. Though that overall number has gone down, the township’s largest expense- personnel and employee benefits – has increased over last year.

Stanick said wages and benefits represent 66.1 percent of the general-fund expenses, and the medical, vision and dental benefits rose 13.5 percent this year. He also said that according to their contracts, police and fire personnel will receive 3 percent wage increases.

He recommended the township lay off one part-time police officer as a cost-saving measure, not add to the township’s vehicle fleet next year and freeze the wages of all non-union employees.

The township supervisors are expected to vote on the final budget during a 5 p.m. meeting Dec. 28.