Nov 28, 2017 2 min read

Cecil Township officials are recommending no bump in millage as part of the proposed 2018 budget.

The proposed budget projects $8.75 million in expenditures and an equal amount in revenue. That amount is roughly $350,000 more than this year’s $8.4 million budget. Under the proposal, the property-tax millage rate would remain at 1.5 mills. The township adjusted the millage to that rate this year from 2016’s rate of 16 mills to avoid an increase in property tax collections following the Washington County reassessment – the first since 1981 – under which new property values took effect this year.

Township Manager Don Gennuso said the budget will be on the agenda for supervisors’ consideration during their Dec. 4 meeting.

Gennuso said contractual pay raises accounted for part of the increase in expenses for next year. He also noted a $125,000 increase in the money slated for park improvements, going from $25,000 to $150,000. Officials also recommended an additional $300,000 for road improvements.

Under that spending plan, allocations to the township’s two largest departments – police and public works – show increases. Officials project about $2.82 million in costs next year for police, or $74,000 more than this year. The allotment for public works would increase by about $140,000 next year, to $1.5 million.

Gennuso said officials don’t have exact figures for how much revenue the township generated this year from property taxes because a number of appeals stemming from the reassessment are still pending in court.

Township officials estimate a total of $1.9 million in revenue from property taxes, the single largest source of funds in its general operating budget. They budgeted for about $2 million in property taxes this year.

Gennuso didn’t expect uncertainty around appeals to affect the 2018 budget, but said exact figures on tax collection would give supervisors a clearer picture of township finances in the future.

“It’s kind of a wait and see,” Gennuso said.