(1/1) Carroll Valley Borough voted to pass their FY20 budget without a tax increase, just as anticipated. The Borough’s tax rate has remained the same since 2013 at 2.45 mills, or .00245 of assessed value of land and buildings. The general fund budget this year was just slightly increased from last year, coming in at $2,535,864.

In 2020 the Borough will continue to fund services such as the Police Department, Road Maintenance, and Parks and Recreation, and events such as the 4th of July Celebration and National Night Out. A two percent cost of living increase was budgeted for in 2020, and as anticipated, benefit costs increased by 11.5%, which falls in line nationwide.

Normal road maintenance functions such as snow removal, line stripping, highway mowing and pothole repair will continue as seen in last year’s budget. The borough has elected to continue with the chip seal program, which once compared to asphalt use, was shown to be more cost effective for the Borough. Chip sealing will be funded mostly with Liquid Fuel Tax revenue.

Within the Police Department, the Borough budgeted to continue with four full-time officers, two part-time officers and one administrative assistant. Also budgeted was additional professional training to establish or improve core competencies while the department continues post entry-level training for younger officers. The Police coverage contract with Fairfield Borough will also be continued through 2020.

In regards to purchases and projects anticipated for 2020, the borough plans to replace a dump truck, purchase a new police vehicle, replace aging computer equipment, replace tasers and firearms for police officers, build a new maintenance shed in Carroll Commons, and replace the roof on Cortner Pavilion. The borough will also continue to cover the new building debt service payments with Capital Reserve Funds

In other local municipality news, Liberty Township, passed their $349,902 FY20 budget with a 0.125 mil tax increase on December 17. The tax increase was intended to help allocate funds for the repair of many of the township’s roads without hurting the pockets of residents or dipping too much into the Capital Reserve account.

In November, Supervisor Mickey Barlow proposed a 1% tax increase in order to keep up with road maintenance demands throughout the township’s roads. "The township roads are continuing to deplete," stated Barlow. "We are $700,000 in the hole in maintenance with the township’s roads… and have had no tax increase in fifteen years." [prior to last year’s tax increase] He finished by stating that the tax increase last year didn’t even cover half of the road master’s salary. However, after much discussion amongst fellow Supervisors and residents, Supervisors settled on a 1/8 of a mill tax increase, with Barlow against. An additional $20,364.84 will be going toward the township’s revenue with this tax increase on board. The township may continue to keep this 0.125 of a mil tax increase over the next few years, working up to a 1% tax increase. The budget was accepted with Barlow against.

During the same meeting, Supervisors also voted to allocate the fire tax amongst the three fire departments according to percentage of coverage to the township. Typically, the township splits fire tax monies evenly: $10,000 given to each department. However, this year Barlow discussed a new proposal to fellow Supervisors Bob Jackson and John Bostek. According to call numbers given to Barlow, Fountaindale, Fairfield and the Vigilant Hose Company (VHC) are not providing equal amounts of service. Barlow proposed to divvy up fire tax monies more appropriately. According to Barlow, Fairfield covers 56% of calls, Fountaindale covers 37% of calls and VHC covers only 6% of calls to the township. Secretary Wendy Peck ran the numbers and presented the proposal for fire tax allocation: Fairfield, with the most coverage would receive the highest amount of tax monies ($18,579), Fountaindale would receive $12,375 and the VHC would receive $2,046. "This is the most fair way to divvy up the fire tax… by percentage of calls," noted Barlow. The call numbers provided by all three departments were based upon calls made last year.

The new fire tax allocation was passed with Bostek against. Numbers will be re-evaluated for next year’s budget.