Politics & Government

Horsham Voters OK Upping Bidding Threshold

More than 75 percent of voters said they favored raising the limit for township purchases.

There may be less red tape around purchases that Horsham Township officials make following Tuesday's approval of a referendum question related to increasing the bidding threshold to $10,000. 

According to the county's unofficial Primary Election results, 76.98 percent (1,274 voters) supported the higher threshold as compared to the 23.02 percent (381 voters) who turned it down. 

For the past 15 years,  has been able to make purchases up to $4,000 without requirements. With the approval of the ballot question, the township's charter will be amended to increase that amount to $10,000.

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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.

The last time the township asked voters to make a charter amendment similar to this was in 1998.

Find out what's happening in Hatboro-Horshamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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