The Sanatoga Post

SANATOGA PA – A 14-page, tentative 2012 general fund budget for Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, with expenses totaling $5.48 million and approved Nov. 17 (2011) by the Board of Commissioners, was released for public review Wednesday (Nov. 23) at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

Board members said the budget carries a proposed real estate tax of about 12 percent, and if approved as issued would add about $31 in taxes to what is considered the “typical” township home with an assessed value of $120,000. It also makes use of $537,392 from the township fund balance to help lower the tax hike.

The general fund budget, from which the bulk of Lower Pottsgrove’s operating costs are paid, also is accompanied by separate tentative budgets for the sewer fund, with expenses of $2.4 million; street lights, $19,000; state fund, $361,000; parks and recreation, $14,000; and sewer capital fund, $650,000.

Next year’s general fund budget expenses are proposed to be about $66,000 less than what the township estimates its final 2011 expenses will be, at $5,548,274.

• A copy of the budget, provided by the township as an Adobe Acrobat document, is available for download from The Post’s Resources Page, here.

Editor’s note: In its budget story of Nov. 18, The Post estimated the tentative budget could amount to more than $6 million, and based its estimate on related figures discussed by board members at the meeting’s end. It was wrong, and we apologize for the error.

Other coverage:

• Double-digit tax hike likely for Lower Pottsgrove property owners (The Mercury)

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Township Offers $5.48M Tentative Budget For Review
• Township Tax Could Rise 12 Percent In Tentative Budget
• Township Schedules Another Budget Meeting Oct. 27
• We’ll Gladly Pay You In 2012 For A Truck Ordered Now
• Open Budget Meetings, He Complains, Not That Open
• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

SANATOGA PA – Unless something changes before year’s end, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township property owners will face rare circumstances during 2012: a real estate tax increase may be headed their way.

The Board of Commissioners on Thursday (Nov. 17, 2011), quickly and without discussion, approved the township’s tentative 2012 budget; said they would advertise its availability for public inspection as of Nov. 23 (Wednesday), and added they would similarly advertise accompanying tax-enabling ordinances and resolutions.

Curiously, they didn’t officially state the tentative budget’s total amount, but it is estimated at more than $6 million. That’s up from about $5.4 million during 2011.

They did, however, note that under it taxes are proposed to increase 12 percent, rising one-quarter of 1 mill and – in terms most bill-payers can understand – adding about $31 in taxes to what they said is considered the “typical” township home with an assessed value of $120,000. Last year’s township-only tax bill for such a home amounted to $235; in 2012 it would rise to $266.

If the increase stands, it would represent the first time in several years that commissioners raised taxes to cover expenses of Lower Pottsgrove’s general fund budget.

Moreover, they said after the vote, the tentative budget relies on an infusion of $537,000 from the township fund balance to help lower the tax hike. Once that money is transferred from its savings accounts, if ultimately approved, board members claimed they would still have $1.512 million – about 22 percent of budgeted expenses – remaining as a cushion against unforeseen costs.

“We cut where we could,” commissioner and Budget Committee member James Kaiser said. “We tried to be fair and accurate.” Fellow commissioner and committee member James Phillips noted the budget numbers legally could change by up to 10 percent before final adoption during December.

Copies of the budget, when released next week, will be available at the township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Township Tax Could Rise 12 Percent In Tentative Budget
• Township Schedules Another Budget Meeting Oct. 27
• We’ll Gladly Pay You In 2012 For A Truck Ordered Now
• Open Budget Meetings, He Complains, Not That Open
• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Nov. 17 meeting):

• Township Tax Could Rise 12 Percent In Tentative Budget
• Township Says It Won’t Reconsider Rejected Trash Bids
• Buchert Ridge Reps Expected At Township Meeting

Lower Pottsgrove's municipal building.

SANATOGA PA – Members of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners’ budget committee apparently need more time to consider recommendations for next year’s spending plan.

The committee intended to meet twice – Oct. 4 and 18 – on Tuesday afternoons this month, Manager Rodney Hawthorne announced earlier. Another date, Oct. 27 (2011; Thursday), now is also scheduled, according to an advertisement today (Oct. 19) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, the municipality’s publication of record for legal notices.

The next meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Sanatoga PA. Those discussions are separate from the full board’s regular monthly meetings. Committee sessions in years past have run for as little as one hour and as long and 2-1/2 hours.

Work on the budget has been under way for several weeks. The spending plan must be approved by commissioners before year’s end; public discussions on the document usually are held in late November or early December.

Although the notice does not specifically invite public input during the committee’s meetings, comments likely will not be denied, either.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Township Schedules Another Budget Meeting Oct. 27
• We’ll Gladly Pay You In 2012 For A Truck Ordered Now
• Open Budget Meetings, He Complains, Not That Open
• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

Already ordered, but it probably will be painted yellow when you see it

SANATOGA PA – Bet you wished your household finances could work like this.

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township commissioners voted late last month to buy the Highway Department a new truck, an “upfitted” 2012 Ford model F-550 from the Fred Beans Ford-Lincoln-Mercury dealership in West Chester PA. It replaces a 1997 vehicle that’s already been taken out of service. Its total cost: $77,772.

Money to pay for it, however, hasn’t quite arrived yet. It’s been allocated, in advance, from next year’s township budget.

Board members unanimously agreed Sept. 28 to the unusual move because the need for the truck is immediate, according to Commissioner James Phillips, and its purchase has been under discussion for some time. Roadmaster John Fogel assembled specifications and obtained bids for the truck weeks ago, as did Phillips, a former automobile dealer. Their results were almost identical, he noted.

It will take extra time, maybe several more weeks, to marry the $41,017 truck chassis to its additional equipment, being installed by Triad Truck Equipment Inc. of Limerick PA at a price of $36,755.

By then, commissioners expect, the 2012 budget – complete with the anticipated truck – will have been approved (probably during November or early December).

So, too, will the tax revenues to cover it.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• We’ll Gladly Pay You In 2012 For A Truck Ordered Now
• Open Budget Meetings, He Complains, Not That Open
• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Sept. 28):

• We’ll Gladly Pay You In 2012 For A Truck Ordered Now
• On Sunnyslope Drive, Acquisition Better Late Than Never
• Conflict Waiver Keeps Township Out Of An Ethical Jam
• Lower Pottsgrove August 2011 Warrants Now Online

SANATOGA PA – Preparation meetings for Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township‘s 2012 budget may be open to the public, but documents the Board of Commissioners is using to help plan revenue and expense estimates for next year apparently are not, former Commissioner Tom Troutman learned Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 4, 2011).

Troutman, long retired from the board, said he joined members of its budget committee Tuesday for the first of two meetings, intended to be public sessions during which proposed purchases and cost-saving measures would be kicked around for consideration. A budget presented by the committee usually is unveiled in November and adopted – sometimes with modifications, sometimes not – in December.

Although commissioners opened their doors to let outsiders in, they were less forthcoming in providing supporting material. Troutman said the committee rejected his request for copies of paperwork to which they referred in the discussions.

“(I) was refused to get any copies of the info sheets that all had. They said it was not for the public to see until it becomes final. How does this fit into (Pennsylvania’s) Right-To-Know Act?,” Troutman grumbled in an e-mail to The Post.

The Right-To-Know Act, which took effect in January 2009, has been praised as an effective way to provide state residents with more, not less, freedom of information from government officials. “Ensuring open and honest government … can only be attained through the unfettered exchange of information” between it and its citizens, Office of Open Records Executive Director Terry Mutchler has written.

The act practically guarantees citizen access to all kinds of government information that was hidden or denied in the past. It does, however, contain exceptions that allow officials to keep some things private. Many deal with security issues. Some cover personnel information. And two address – you guessed it – budget matters.

The law exempts access to “internal, predecisional deliberations of an agency, its members, employees or officials … relating to a budget recommendation, legislative proposal, legislative amendment, contemplated or proposed policy or course of action, or any research, memos or other documents used in the predecisional deliberations.”

It also exempts “the strategy to be used to develop or achieve the successful adoption of a budget, legislative proposal or regulation.”

To which, upon learning more about the exceptions, Troutman offered: “I guess that the open records act is not as good as I thought.”

The committee’s second scheduled meeting is set for Oct. 18, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Sanatoga PA. Its discussions are separate from the full board’s regular monthly meetings. The sessions can run for as little as one hour and as long as 2-1/2 hours.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Open Budget Meetings, He Complains, Not That Open
• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

Photo from Google Images

Lower Pottsgrove's municipal building.

SANATOGA PA – It’s that budget time of year again.

The 2012 budget committee of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet twice on Tuesday afternoons during October, Manager Rodney Hawthorne announced Tuesday (Sept. 13, 2011) in an advertisement in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, the municipality’s publication of record for legal notices.

• These events have been added to The Post calendar.
• Read the legal notice here.

Committee meetings will be held Oct. 4 and 18, both beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Sanatoga PA. Those discussions are separate from the full board’s regular monthly meetings, scheduled for Oct. 3 (Monday) and Oct. 20 (Thursday), respectively. Committee sessions in years past have run for as little as one hour and as long and 2-1/2 hours.

Work on the budget has been under way in earnest for about six weeks. The spending plan must be approved by commissioners before year’s end; public discussions on the document usually are held in late November or early December. A key component in all township budgets is the cost of waste disposal – during 2011 it amounted to 7.5 percent of Lower Pottsgrove’s expenses – and the board is in the process of negotiating a new trash-hauling contract.

Any delay in completing talks about a hauling contract may, but is not expected to, delay the committee’s deliberations.

Although the notice does not specifically invite public input during the committee’s meetings, comments likely will not be denied, either.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Township Committee Planning Two Budget Meetings
• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

SANATOGA PA – Give James Kaiser credit as a man who can sift through garbage and create a valuable checklist from what he finds.

Kaiser – a member of the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Board of Commissioners – did not physically picked though piles of refuse. He did, however, read the extensive compilation released earlier this month of residents’ answers to a survey on trash collection. Within its 70 double-sided pages, he claims, were a few golden nuggets.

From that report, Kaiser told board members Thursday (Aug. 18, 2011), has come a list of items that likely will form the basis of the township’s next contract with a waste hauler.

Lower Pottsgrove during March (2011) issued a 21-question survey about existing trash removal services. More than 960 people responded; some with compliments, some with complaints, and many with suggestions on what they want to see in whatever forthcoming deal commissioners sign with a hauler.

The current contract with Norristown PA-based J.P. Mascaro and Sons is due to expire. Commissioners want to solicit bids for future years’ hauling, from Mascaro and competitors, as quickly as possible so they can be evaluated “well before year-end” and in advance of work on the 2012 township budget, Kaiser said.

Most survey respondents generally hope to pay less for hauling services they already receive. That would be nice, Kaiser agrees, but may not be possible. What the township might accomplish, however, is to avoid a substantial hauling price increase by heeding residents’ suggestions.

Lower Pottsgrove will actively look, he said, at a choice of days other than Monday on which garbage is picked up. It may reduce its number of yard waste collections, and rely in part on a North Coventry PA compost vendor that says it will accept for free yard waste brought to its site. It may rethink how bulk items like stoves are collected.

Just as important, Kaiser noted, is what it probably won’t do. The township is unlikely to consider charging for garbage by the bag; a bookkeeping nightmare, commissioners said earlier. It probably also won’t limit the number of bags or cans that can be put out to the curb weekly. “The survey makes it clear people want the ability to get rid of more junk, not less,” he said in answer to a question.

His colleagues asked Kaiser to help prepare bid documents for board consideration during its Sept. 6 (Tuesday) meeting.

Related:

• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• From Township Trash Survey, A Heap Of Interesting Ideas
• Township Didn’t Know You’d Have Trash On Your Mind
• Trash Talkin’: Township Wants Opinions On Messy Topic
• Lower Pottsgrove Seeks Suggestions In A Trash Survey

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 18):

• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding
• Commissioners OK Pruss Hill Road Accidents Study
• July 2011 Warrants From Lower Pottsgrove Now Online
• Township Pays Two Attorneys In Police Discipline Case
• Road Re-Paving Is Coming; Just When Anybody’s Guess
• Township, An Unhappy Bank Customer, Goes Elsewhere
• Township May Put Money Where Authority’s Mouth Is

Illustration by The Post using Google Images

Pottstown Library Director Michael Packard makes his pitch for funding Thursday during the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners' meeting

SANATOGA PA – Mike Packard will be the first to tell you that Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township residents are a pretty well-informed lot. They rely on the local library to borrow books, magazines, movies and music. They sometimes take advantage of its free Internet services, and on occasion bring their children to story-time there.

In fact, Packard reports, although township patrons of the Pottstown Regional Public Library, 500 High St., Pottstown PA, comprise only 17 percent of all its registered users, they borrow a disproportionate share – almost 21 percent – of all its materials. Yet the township during 2011 contributed only 12 percent, $62,125, of the library’s $525,729 budget.

So with a somewhat sheepish smile, but no hesitation, library director Packard on Thursday (Aug. 18, 2011) boldly went where others fear to tread: into the Board of Commissioners’ second meeting of the month, to request a funding increase for 2012. Commissioners smiled in return, and equally without hesitation said they’d think about it.

Board members have learned the hard way that the library is indeed important to their constituents. They tried during 2009 to halve the township’s contribution to $30,000 in a stab as cost-saving, then reversed themselves when taxpayers loudly complained.

Increasing Lower Pottsgrove’s donation to the library by more than $26,000 next year to $88,411, as Packard said he hoped the board might realistically consider, would more accurately reflect the township population’s library borrowing habits. The board did not commit to a number but thanked Packard for his presentation.

Lower Pottsgrove’s library statistics
Registered township patrons: 3,821
Total library patrons: 23,151
Township patronage: 17 percent
Township patrons’ circulation: 11,737 items in 6 months
Total library circulation: 55,993 items in 6 months
Township circulation: 20.9 percent
Township library funding 2011: $62,125
Total library budget 2011: $525,729
Township 2011 revenue to library: 11.8 percent
Township 2011 revenue per capita: $5.15 per person

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove 2012 budget):

• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of Aug. 18):

• Thanks To Survey Input, Township Preparing Trash Bids
• Pottstown Library Asks Township For Higher Funding
• Commissioners OK Pruss Hill Road Accidents Study
• July 2011 Warrants From Lower Pottsgrove Now Online
• Township Pays Two Attorneys In Police Discipline Case
• Road Re-Paving Is Coming; Just When Anybody’s Guess
• Township, An Unhappy Bank Customer, Goes Elsewhere
• Township May Put Money Where Authority’s Mouth Is