No Tax Hike In Proposed Lower Merion Township 2019 Budget

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA – Good news Lower Merion Township property owners: township officials are recommending another budget without a property tax increase.

The proposed 2019 Lower Merion Township budget does not include a property tax increase, according to officials.

If the budget is adopted as it stands, Lower Merion will have gone without a property tax hike for eight years.

The proposal maintains the 4.19 millage rate.

Officials will hold the first public hearing on the 2019 budget at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 in the Lower Merion Township building.

Continuing budget talks will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5 and it is set to be adopted at the Wednesday, Dec. 19 meeting which begins at 7:30 p.m.

In 2019, the sanitary sewer rental rate is not anticipated to increase, but the solid wast fees are proposed to increase by 10 percent from 2018.

Proposed fees for 2019 are: $237 for one mini-can per week; $338 for one container per week; $405 for two containers per week; and $67 for each additional can. The Rear Yard Collection Fee for trash and recycling placed more than five feet from the curb line will increase to $231.

Other highlights of the document include estimated actual performances for the current fiscal year, which ends Dec. 31:

• Revenue for 2018 is estimated at $65.5 million, an increase of 5.2 percent compared to the 2017 Budget.
• Expenditures for 2018 are estimated at $66.46 million, an increase of 1.5 percent compared to the 2018 Budget.
• The 2018 Estimated Actual expenditures exceed revenues (deficit) by $966,541, compared to a budgeted deficit of $3.22 million.

For 2019:

• Revenue for 2019 is budgeted at $64.25 million, an increase of 3.2 percent compared to 2018, while 2019 Expenditures are budgeted at $68.19 million, an increase of 4.2 percent compared to 2018.
• With 2019 expenditures expected to exceed revenue by $3.93 million, there will be a required planned budgeted drawdown of fund balance, to balance operating revenue with expenditures.
• The 2019 Budget ending fund balance (undesignated) is estimated at $16.08 million, or 23.6 percent of the 2019 Budget Expenditures.
• The budgeted deficits are designed to use some of the Township’s unreserved fund balances, which remain above policy, to avoid the need for tax rate increases.

You can see the full budget presentation here.

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