Gilpin residents should expect to see more township police coverage and no change in real estate taxes as part of next year’s budget.

Supervisors recently approved their preliminary 2022 spending plan, which includes a boost to public safety spending while keeping the tax rate at 11 mills.

Projected revenues are projected to be about $809,600 and expenses are at about $881,600. That’s an estimated deficit of about $72,000.

Budget documents indicate the township will close the gap by using part of a projected $85,000 in money leftover from this year.

The next budget meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 15. The final budget adoption is planned for the Dec. 29 meeting.

“I think we’ve got it pretty settled,” Supervisor Chairman Charles Stull said. “… We like to take it down to that last minute so we know exactly how much carryover we’re going to have.”

This year’s budget allocated about $263,200 for public safety.

Supervisors in October unanimously approved spending about $4,200 to boost department service hours from 16 to 20 hours per day through the rest of the year.

Next year’s budget documents allocate slightly less than $303,000 for public safety.

Supervisor Steve Senjan said he is pleased with the additional police support, but there is still work to be done with the budget.

“We were able to get a balanced budget and add the 24-hour police coverage, but my concern is for the coming years if it will be possible to sustain the 24-hour coverage,” Senjan said. “I feel that there were more cuts to be made. We could have trimmed another ($5,000 to $10,000).”

The Gilpin department has three full-time officers, including Chief Chris Fabec, and four part-timers.

State police covers the township when Gilpin officers are unavailable.

“Just like every other department, (state police) struggle with manpower at times, and I think it would be beneficial for the residents to have their own police department respond 24 hours a day,” Fabec said. “At times you’re waiting for PSP to come from somewhere on (Route) 28. Having our own department on call would cut down on response times.”

Fabec said calls have increased by about 25 for the month since the bump from 16- to 20-hour-per-day coverage.

Stull said residents deserve to have a township officer respond to a call anytime day or night.

“It’s something we’ve been working toward for years, and we finally have the money in the budget to do so,” he said. “We went from having a part-time department when I started in 2018 to having a 20-hour department and soon to be 24 hours.”

The proposed 2022 budget is available for review on the township’s website, gilpintwp.com, as well as at the township office at 589 Route 66.

The township raised taxes by four mills this year because of a drop in revenue from earned income tax caused by the pandemic, as well as a decrease in money from Allegheny Technologies Inc.

ATI won a real estate assessment appeal that dropped the assessed value of its former ATI Bagdad property by more than $1.5 million. The Bagdad plant was idled in 2015 and permanently closed in 2016.

“We had to make the tough call raising taxes (with this year’s budget), something none of us wanted to do,” Stull said. He said planning for this coming year was much easier, and he thanked his fellow supervisors and township Secretary Sharon Long for their efforts.

The proposed budget does not include the estimated $125,400 in federal American Rescue Plan funds received this year, or the $125,400 expected to come in next year.

“With regulations constantly changing surrounding this funding, we expect expenditures from this fund to be planned in early 2022,” Stull said.

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