$100 Tax Hike Proposed In Hatboro 2023 Preliminary Municipal Budget

HATBORO, PA —Taxes will be rising around $100 for the average homeowner in a nearly $7.6 million preliminary municipal budget presented during Monday night's Borough Council meeting.

Before a half dozen residents in the Pennypack Facility that serves as the makeshift borough hall, Borough Manager Diane Hegele outlined the 2023 preliminary budget's highlights after Council President Dave Stockton kicked off the presentation.

"We've been talking for months about how this has been a difficult year with inflation and economic uncertainty," Stockton said.

The borough was still working out final millage rates but officials believe the tax hike will be between $100 and $110 for the average homeowner once the budget is approved.

"That's down from $165 where it was at," Stockton said, adding that "everything went up 6-10 percent. We're trying to keep the increase below 5 percent."

During her budget presentation, Hegele stated that inflation and supplies, and rising costs impacted the borough this year and will continue to do so in 2023.

One of those additional expenses came from the borough's purchase of the Pennypack Facility, which served as a school four years ago and is now filling the void of the borough hall until HVAC installation is completed at Borough Hall off Horsham Road.

"We were aware of budget issues," Stockton said. "We really cut back on operating costs and spending."

Stockton said that Hegele adopted a budget strategy in June where line items —including a separate one for Pennypack —were broken out and non-essential expenditures were eliminated. Any expense over $500 also required approval.

One big area of expense remains trash collection, which the borough provides in-house twice a week along with recycling once a week.

Borough officials said they cut back that service to once a week during the pandemic and even did surveys but residents still want the service two times a week.

Hegele said that a lot of the budget's expenditures are fixed as well.

She cited wages at $4.2 million, insurance at $1.38 million, and employee benefits at $557,913 totaling $6.5 million in set expenditures, or 85 percent of the budget.

"It's very challenging when a lot of the budget is already allocated," Stockton said. "But these are the core services for residents."

Stockton said the finance committee meets often to review municipal finances and make sure they remain in check.

The council is expected to adopt the budget at its next meeting at 7 p.m., Dec. 19, at the Pennypack Facility on Spring Avenue. The council adopted a preliminary municipal budget at its Nov. 7 meeting.

The budget must be approved by state law by Dec. 31.