For the average Evesham homeowner with a property valued at 269,900, the municipal tax bill will rise $39.55.
Evesham Township Council adopted the 2017 municipal budget at a special council meeting this week.
The budget is set to raise the municipal tax rate from 41.57 cents per every $100 of assessed property value to 43.03 cents per every $100 of assessed property value.
For the average Evesham homeowner with a property valued at 269,900, the municipal tax rate increase equates to a rise of about $39.55 a year.
Township officials say the increase is about $9.89 for each quarter or about $3.30 per month.
Township manager Tom Czerniecki said for a resident’s overall property tax bill, only about 15 percent goes to the municipal government, with the rest split between school districts, the county, open space taxes and the fire district.
Overall, this year’s municipal budget totals $36.4 million, up from last year’s total of $35.6 million.
The overall municipal tax levy, which is total amount of revenue brought into the township through taxation, is set at $22.43 million. The figure is up about $744,000 from last year’s overall municipal tax levy of $21.69 million.
According to Czerniecki, this year’s tax levy increase can be attributed to two major factors — debt payments on the municipal-owned Indian Spring Golf Course and money to hire the equivalent of three full-time police officers.
Czerniecki said the nature of the golf course debt had a ballooning payment this year of about $500,000, and the three officers were an attempt to partially make up for the presence lost last year with the officers who were stationed at the township’s elementary and middle schools.
In looking at revenues for the 2017 budget other than the tax levy, Czerniecki said revenue from court fines was up $15,000 from $975,000, construction fees were up $90,000 from $860,000, cable television fees were up $18,900 from $736,000, and capital surplus is up $35,000 from $775,000 due to monies left over from past bonds that can be counted as revenue if now spent on debt service.
Czerniecki said the township would also be using $3.95 million in surplus for the 2017 budget, which was an increase of $175,000 from the previous year.
According to Czerniecki, although interest from delinquent taxes has declined $110,000 from $375,000 last year, the drop was due to an “outstanding” tax collection year that Czerniecki said would be offset in the reserves for collected taxes in the township appropriations.
Czerniecki also spoke to a point a resident had made at a previous meeting regarding $823,000 the township receives in revenue from surplus from the Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority.
Czerniecki said the amount was close to the formulaic money, $755,000 in this year’s budget, the township realizes from cable television fees every year per state law.
However, unlike the cable televisions providers, Czerniecki said the MUA has sewer main breaks that damage township roads for which the township is ultimately responsible for resurfacing and paying police overtime costs to redirect traffic and patrol the infrastructure.
“We were questioned about receiving this money (MUA surplus) but it’s formulaic, it’s in state law, and I think it’s well deserved for all that we provide,” Czerniecki said.
