Letter to the editor: Allegheny Township's fiscal footing

I want to prepare Allegheny Township residents that the 3% rise in taxes, approximately $60,000, will not be enough to cover revenues over expenditures in the next year. During the past three years, the township’s expenditures have drastically exceeded revenues. Chairman Jamie Morabito has essentially said, “Don’t blame me — I’ve only been here since 2022.”

In 2022, expenditures were $267,641 over revenues; in 2023, $274,605 over revenues. I haven’t been provided with the 2024 total. In 2020, the township had over $715,000 in the fund balance, and over $650,000 was used to balance the budget. The new manager stated at the recent budget meeting that increased operational costs, higher-than-expected demand for services, infrastructure improvements, incurred debt and “lack of a visionary plan” were the reasons for the township’s state.

In 2025, revenues are projected to be $3,657,019 with expenditures at $4,212,019. Be prepared for additional taxes to be adopted to cover expenditures. And to add insult to injury, they have $50,000 in the 2025 budget to hire a financial consultant.

Instead of working toward being in total alignment with the newly elected supervisor, Mora­bito should have taken charge of addressing these deficits. I served as a supervisor for 12 years, and I have been on the municipal authority for about 16 years, and during that time Alle­gheny Township has never exceeded “revenues over expenditures” in such an overwhelming amount. In my opinion, Morabito has fiscally failed to operate this township but asserts “don’t blame me.”

Joseph Ferguson

Allegheny Township