Horsham Voters to Decide Bidding Threshold

How much oversight should Horsham elected officials have in spending taxpayer money?

That's the question that will essentially be posed to voters on April 24. 

For the past 15 years, has been able to make purchases up to $4,000 without requirements, but on primary election day, the township will ask its residents to consider amending the charter to increase that amount to $10,000.

According to Act 84, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed in November of 2011, municipalities can make purchases up to $10,000 without any requirements. Then three written price quotes or telephonic quotes are required for contracts between $10,000 and $18,500, and anything over $18,500 has to go to competitive bid.

The bidding threshold was raised automatically for about 97 percent of Pennsylvania's municipalities on Jan. 1, according to Township Manager Bill Walker, but Horsham's community charter forbids automatic changes when the state law is updated because it follows a Home Rule Charter. Therefore, a majority vote from the community is the only way Horsham's charter can be changed.

Walker explained that the last time the township asked voters to make a charter amendment like this was in 1998, and "at that time, the majority of the voters said yes."

"I know this is a positive for the taxpayers," he said. "Fourteen years have gone by and have been frozen in time."

The current bidding threshold has not allowed for inflation, he said, and has eroded the township's purchasing power. Raising the threshold will provide more choices and will allow the township to eliminate some costs involved with bidding, he explained.

"By increasing bidding, there will be less administrative work," Walker said. "We'll be able to quickly respond to maintenance responsibilities and to lower costs for routine maintenance and supply contracts. There's not much you can do under ($18,500)."

Though Walker believes that the update would be good for the community and for taxpayers, he said he knows that not everyone will agree, mainly because they won't have educated themselves on the topic.

"They might not know all the details of going out to bid and the cost," he said. "Some might look at it and just say, 'I don't want to give the township a blank check to go out there and go up to ($18,500) without going out to bid.' "

In order to better educate themselves on the bidding requirements, several residents have been calling and asking questions based on what they've heard at previous council meetings, Walker said.

Additionally, the township has been "tossing around ideas" of how to help educate the community. There are no concrete plans yet, but Walker said something will come together as the election nears.

"We haven't decided on [what to do] just yet," he said. "It will be right before the election. We don't want to do something too soon and have people not care about it."

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors have been trying to get this charter amendment passed for years, Walker said, and it finally happened. But he isn't sure if Horsham will follow suit.

"I just don't know what those [who] come out to vote on the 24th are going to think," he said. "But at the end of the day, it's a win for local taxpayers."