Third of four parts

The proposed 2022 Salisbury Township budget includes forward-looking plans for the township fire fund and general fund-capital replacement plan.

Salisbury Township Director of Finance Paul Ziegenfus will present the 2022 township budget and tax ordinance for adoption at the 7 p.m. Dec. 9 board of commissioners meeting.

If not adopted, the budget will be presented at the 7 p.m. Dec. 23 township meeting.

A copy of the 115-page budget can be reviewed at the township municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave. and on the township website, where it can be downloaded and/or printed.

The fire fund is being operated under a different policy, implemented in 2020.

“In 2020, we made a number of changes for fire services and to the budget of the fire fund,” Ziegenfus said in the narrative of the budget that he prepared.

“We promoted Dustin Grow to fire services director and instructed him to manage the relationship between Eastern Salisbury Fire Department, Western Salisbury Fire Department and the township.

“We moved to a ‘stipend budget’ model in 2021, which would allow us to pay the fire companies a lump sum and, if they did not spend all of their allotted stipend, we would earmark this amount for them to be used in the future.

“In 2021, Western and Eastern Salisbury fire departments were able to utilize this new system and carry forward a balance into future years. We believe this promotes thoughtful spending while incentivizing each department to spend less, if possible,” Ziegenfus said.

“The fire apparatus replacement plan has been revised and each fire department has understood that our capital plan is to keep fire apparatus as long as reasonably possible. The plan provides some flexibility for timing of purchases and we continue to monitor the plan and revise as needed.

“In the past, we have budgeted to space out the equipment so we have enough money available at the time of replacement. We have determined that we can save more money if we plan to replace two pieces in one year so we have revised the plan to reflect this.”

In 2019, Ziegenfus noted, “A separate capital fund for the general fund helped identify operational needs separate from capital and to clearly identify what we are spending each year in capital.

“In addition, we continue to update our 10-year capital replacement plan for all departments to help us identify what our future capital needs are.

“In the past, we have taken a pay-as-you-go approach for capital, which translated to utilizing reserves to cover capital needs, or resulted in the township taking out debt to pay for capital needs.

“We believe this approach cannot continue and we are proposing an increase in tax millage in 2022 to be earmarked for capital needs.

“Based on our 10-year replacement plan, we believe we need to set aside at least $300,000 annually for capital.

“A tax increase of .25 mills in 2022 will provide us with $318,000 of additional tax revenue.

“We also anticipate a surplus of approximately $500,000 from 2021 that will be transferred to capital reserves. With the current balance in capital reserves, the amount to be transferred in 2021, and the future plan, we believe we will be able to cover future capital needs without having to worry about how we will cover it.

“We will continue to update the capital replacement plan every year and determine if we need to revise the tax millage set aside for capital.”

The highway aid fund accumulated, as of Jan. 1, a fund balance of approximately $1 million.

“We decided to start utilizing some of this balance on major road construction projects,” Ziegenfus said.

“We put out several large projects for bid in 2021 and will spend over $600,000 of reserves on several major road projects in 2021.

“We have decided to budget for an additional $350,000 of major road projects in 2022,” Ziegenfus said.

The proposed 2022 Salisbury Township budget has a general fund of $11,077,907 and expenditures of $21,821,909.

The township budget is supported by a millage increase, 0.50 of a mill, from 2.42 mills to 2.92 mills. The 0.50 mill increase is: 0.25 mill for township police hires and 0.25 mill for township capital improvements.

The township tax hike is, on average, $120 annually, or $10 per month, based on the township median residential property valuation of $235,000.

As part of the proposed 2022 township budget, water rates will increase 35 cents from $7 to $7.35 per 1,000 gallons.

For a family that averages 20,000 gallons use per quarter, the increase is $10 per quarter and $40 annually, or an average increase of $3 per month.

The water rate increase is a pass-along hike from the Lehigh County Authority.

Trash hauling and recycling rates will not increase.

Next week: Salisbury Township 2022 budget. Last of four parts