Unity supervisors propose $7M budget, hold line on township taxes

Unity residents will see no increase in their property taxes next year.

The township supervisors approved a proposed 2021 budget totaling $7 million.

They’re expected to vote on a final version Dec. 10 .

“The budget was pretty easy to do,” said Supervisor Mike O’Barto. “We are in a very good place.”

Despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its restrictions on many business activities, O’Barto said the township is fortunate to have experienced no more than a $54,000 net drop in all of its tax revenues compared to 2019.

Earned income tax collections are down by about $100,000 and real estate tax receipts are at an $8,000 deficit compared to last year. But, O’Barto said, “We’re hoping by the end of the year it will catch up.”

He noted Unity property owners have until Dec. 31 this year to pay their taxes without a late penalty. It’s a deadline extension the supervisors approved to help residents cope with any pandemic-related financial hardships.

The township is projecting $5.17 million in all local tax receipts next year, including $3.2 million in earned income collections and $630,000 in receipts from the 2.2-mill real estate tax. An additional 2-mill fire tax, also assessed on real estate values, provides funding to assist local volunteer fire departments and is expected to generate $570,000 next year.

Unity is projecting to take in $200,000 in building permit fees — a revenue category that increased this year through renovations as well as new construction, O’Barto said.

The township’s proposed 2021 general fund budget of $6.2 million reflects a 2% spending increase from this year’s total. With the pandemic remaining a major concern throughout the region, O’Barto acknowledged, “There are a lot of things we may not be able to control. We’re going to see how it works out.”

When the pandemic arrived in March, he said, the supervisors took extra care in controlling spending. They bought an excavator and a machine for sealing cracks in roads, O’Barto said. He said the township will save money with the sealing machine, which it previously rented.

Unity also saved about $30,000 in fuel costs when its road crew moved into a new public works building, he said. That ended travels between two temporary garage spaces that were leased after the previous public works building and much of the equipment inside were destroyed in an arson in September 2017 that remains unsolved.

Other segments of the 2021 budget include a street light fund of $35,000 and a state liquid fuels tax fund of $817,000. Derived from a tax on wholesale gasoline, the latter amount is down from $886,000 this year and $904,000 in 2019.

At least for this year, given a pandemic-related decrease in travel, O’Barto said, “It could be because people are not using as much gas.”

This year, Unity paved 17 township roads and applied a seal coat to help preserve 27 other roads. Looking ahead, he said, “We need to pave more roads, and we’re working on ways we can do that.”

Replacement auditor named

The supervisors appointed Ed Saxton, a trustee with the Pleasant Unity Volunteer Fire Department, to fill a vacancy on the township’s elected board of auditors. He replaces Greg Fumea, who resigned from the board when he was hired last month as a part-time code enforcement officer for the township.