2013 BUDGET STATEMENT

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA

            The Springfield Township Board of Commissioners has adopted a balanced operating budget for 2013 of $16,840,591 with a real estate tax rate of 3.584 mills and an earned income tax rate of 1.0 percent.

2013 REAL ESTATE TAX RATE

General Purpose Tax (max. 30 mills)                    3.584 mills

Court Approved (max. 5 mills)                                     0 mills

Special Purpose Taxes                                              0 mills

                                                                         3.584 mills

            To summarize the impact on the “typical” taxpayer as a result of the 2013 budget projections, the taxpayer will realize an increase to the real estate taxes and sanitary sewer rental, but there will be a decrease in the refuse service fee. The 2013 budget proposes to increase the real estate tax rate to 3.584 mills, the first increase in real estate taxes in eight years. In years 2006 and 2007, the real estate taxes were reduced, and the real estate tax rate for 2008 - 2012 remained unchanged. The refuse service fee will decrease by $1.10 while the sanitary sewer rental will increase on the average of $16.33 per household. 

            The “typical” household in Springfield Township with a $175,400 property assessment will pay $628.63 in real estate taxes in 2013. The 2013 township budget was increased by $115,480, or 0.7% from the year 2012.  The major changes to the budget are related to contractual increases in salaries and employee benefits, utility expenses, sanitary sewer conveyance fees, and capital equipment costs.

            Residents will continue to pay for sanitary sewer service and refuse collection and disposal through separate fees. The City of Philadelphia conveys and treats the overwhelming majority of the Township's wastewater and for the year 2013, the City estimates that their costs will be increased by 6%. Their increased costs are necessary in order to maintain compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act, and to align their costs to treat biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids within the wastewaters. The Philadelphia conveyance and treatment fees are the single most determining factor in setting the sanitary sewer rental fee. To the extent that these fees are increased, the Township must pass the increase along to the end users which, in this case, are those households utilizing the municipal sewer system. For 2013, the discounted sanitary sewer rental rate for each 1,000 gallons of wastewater treated is set at $5.31, an increase of $.49 per 1,000 gallons treated.

            The 2012 discounted refuse service fee was $194.86 per dwelling unit, and this is proposed to be decreased in 2013 by $1.10, or $193.76. The tipping fee charged by the Waste System Authority of Eastern Montgomery County will remain the same as in 2013, or $65 per ton. A stable tipping fee, an improved market for the sale of recycled materials, and relatively static local operational and capital costs, will result in a .5% decrease to the 2013 refuse service fee.

            The Township will continue to fund its general budgetary obligations through traditional revenue sources such as the Real Estate Tax, Earned Income Tax, Real Estate Transfer Tax, Mercantile and Business Privilege Taxes, Licenses and Permits, Fines and Departmental Earnings.

               The 2013 Budget was adopted by the Board of Commissioners at special public meeting held for this purpose on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 8:00 PM.