RICHMOND TWP. – The Richmond Township supervisors Monday night adopted, by a 2-0 vote, a 2015 budget requiring an 11 percent tax increase.
The tax rate will be 2.5 mills, up from 2.25 mills. It includes a 1.0 mill fire tax. The owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $250, up from $225. Property owners served by streetlights will also pay 80 cents per foot of street frontage.
The $1.86 million budget is $140,000 more than this year’s because of equipment and labor costs for roadwork, said Sharon D. Harrison, township manager.
Supervisor Brian S. Wanner was absent.
In response to a resident’s question about the future of the Fleetwood Police Department continuing to provide coverage in the township, Supervisor Phoebe R. Bitler said: “We will not do anything without talking to people. We are not going to do anything ourselves without the residents.”
The next step, she said, is to have an informational public meeting and perhaps a survey of the residents.
In other business, the supervisors announced that the township will not be plowing state roads this winter as it has in the past. Some of the state roads have areas where water pools, requiring extra salt, said Supervisor Ronald L. Kurtz. The state also is paying less to clear some roads, he added.
“We will look at it next year and decide if we want to take it back over,” Kurtz said.
