West Chester’s preliminary budget includes ‘modest’ tax increases – Daily Local

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WEST CHESTER — Borough Director Mike Perrone presented a draft budget to council at last week’s meeting with what he called a “modest” 4% increase in property taxes and 6.5% of sewer tariffs. The property tax increase for 2021 was 6%.

The budget is not frozen. Council will likely vote on a preliminary budget in October, and then in November or December on a final budget.

With an estimated median property value of $ 178,703, the median homeowner now pays $ 1,322 in property taxes, which could increase by $ 54 per year to reach $ 1,376. The preliminary mile rate would drop from 7.40 miles for 2021 to 7.7 miles for 2022.

Police and public works services account for 73 percent of the budget. Police salaries and benefits are expected to increase by $ 600,000, with additional revenues of $ 230,000 generated by the suggested increase in property taxes.

The borough relies heavily on parking revenues. For 2021, the borough has budgeted for a transfer of $ 1,523,140 from parking to the general fund.

A budget package distributed at last week’s meeting indicates that the COVID pandemic significantly affected parking revenue in 2020. The borough received slightly less revenue from meters or $ 1.1 million in 2020. He had raised $ 2.2 million in 2019.

Most of the parking lot staff were put on leave for several months and the meters were free, following the March 2020 lockdown ordered by the Commonwealth.

“Although revenues have recovered, it remains to be seen whether parking volume will return to pre-pandemic levels,” the package read. “The budgeting for 2022 reflects a conservative outlook on the recovery of parking revenues. “

Perrone asked the council to order a hiring freeze in all departments, seek long-term funding through a bond issue to build a new public works department facility, and start charging fees for bulk pickup, under an overall budget of $ 21 million and a budget of $ 33.5 million. million euros of global budget.

With Perrone’s recommendation, any future requests for staff replacements and new positions would be reviewed and authorized by the board.

“The public works building is in very poor condition and the working conditions are far from ideal,” Perrone said. “I would suggest and recommend that the borough council dust off the construction documents that were prepared about 10 years ago and seek long-term funding.”

The cost of the project is estimated between 12 and 15 million dollars.

Perrone noted that the borough hosts a large student body and spends a lot of time and money removing loose items when moving in and out in the south-eastern areas of the borough.

“It may take a while to discuss, but this would be an opportunity to charge a fee for services that not all homeowners use,” Perrone said.

Currently, the district pays for the collection of garbage and recycling from the budget of the public works department, which is financed by regular tax revenues. Perrone suggests that residents could be billed individually.

“It is remarkable that the borough was able to continue to maintain this service to residents without imposing garbage charges,” said Perrone.

Perrone will retire on January 1, 2022 and this is the last time he will oversee the budget process.

“To plan for realities and our financial future over the next 5 to 10 years, I believe that the borough council and administrative staff need to focus more on a long-term plan to find new sources of revenue or increases. of taxes that will provide new sources of revenue, that will be able to pay for the services our residents enjoy today, ”said Perrone.

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