Horsham's Proposed Budget Holds Line on Taxes

Horsham residents will see no new taxes - at least at the municipal level - under the township's proposed $14.1 million 2013 budget. 

The Horsham Township Council voted 3-0 to introduce next year's spending plan during Wednesday night's meeting. The budget, which reflects a 5 percent increase in spending, will be considered for adoption on Dec. 12, according to Horsham Township Manager Bill Walker. 

Walker said since the the beginning of Horsham's "public recession" in 2009, the township has decreased the number of capital projects carried out to help weather the difficult economic storm. 

"We don't pave the amount of roads that we used to pave," Walker said, adding that Horsham has kept "staffing levels flat."

If the budget is approved as introduced, taxes would remain at 1 mill, as has been the case since the last tax increase in 2002, Walker said. That tax hike, he pointed out, was approved in a voter referendum and covered the expense of building the Horsham Township Library. The last local government-approved tax boost occurred in 1989, Walker said. 

Of the 62 municipalities in Montgomery County, Horsham Township has the sixth-lowest millage rate, according to a slide that Walker showed during the meeting. Horsham's 26,147 residents also pay the lowest amount in real estate taxes as compared to others towns throughout Montgomery County, he said.

"We watch the money," Walker said. 

The 2013 budget would cover replacement vehicles for police, the highway department and the parks department, Walker said previously.

The budget includes funding for the repaving of a three-mile stretch of the Oak Hill development and a storm sewer project in the Horsham Terrace development that includes 12 new inlets to alleviate flooding during rainstorms. The proposal would support upgrades to the Samuel Carpenter Park tennis courts and the Kohler Park playground, pavilion and restrooms — two projects that are also supported by grants and funding from the Horsham Rotary Club.

It includes allocations for the Clearbrook Park creek bank stabilization project and a “standby” allotment for a connector trail along the PECO Power Line Trail. The latter project is awaiting the finalization of the county budget, as Montgomery County has tentatively pledged to cover 80 percent of costs if the township can match the remaining 20 percent.

The budget would allow for a traffic signal upgrade at Limekiln Pike and Welsh Road and the initial stage of the replacement of the township's 467 streetlights with LED energy-efficient lights — a project that Walker noted will be phased in over several years. Also included is money for the inclusion of a pedestrian crossing light at Horsham and Babylon roads, the Route 611 corridor revitalization plan, the beginning of the township’s update to its zoning ordinance and upgrades to township bridges and storm inlets.

The proposal would also fund a new township Web site.