It’s budget time again and Chadds Ford Township supervisors want to increase what the township gives to the Concordville Fire & Protection Association. They think they found a way to do so without increasing property millage rates, but businesses could pay more.
Township Finance Director Laura Lim gave a presentation on a draft of the 2025 budget at the Oct. 30 supervisors' work session. The proposal is to increase the annual Business Privilege Tax by 100 percent, doubling the annual BPT from $100 to $200. All of that additional money would be earmarked for the fire company.
Raising the BPT to $200 per year allows the township to increase its contribution to the fire company to $150,000, though Concordville had requested $223,000 from Chadds Ford.
(The township increased its contribution for 2024 to $100,000, up from the previous contributions of $65,000. The fire company had requested $189,000.)
During the discussion, Rob King, a member of the Open Space Committee and the owner of Chadds Ford Tree Service said, “I look for ways to avoid taxes, but this is for a good cause so I’m OK with it.”
Further discussion included the possibility of a larger hike in the business tax.
Lim said the township had four options, with one being just an increase in the BPT. Other options included raising the business tax by 75 percent, while another option would increase the township’s fire tax by 8 percent and a BPT increase of 75 percent. Each option considered would bring the township’s contribution to $150,000.
Supervisors’ Chairman Samantha Reiner said she originally favored the last option, but changed her mind and said she could support the BPT increase to $200.
But that was not the final thought on the matter. Supervisors Timotha Trigg and Kathleen Goodier each said they wanted to see what would happen if the township raised the BPT to $225 or $250. Both are interested in getting the contribution beyond $150,000.
“I need the fire company to be in a place where they’re comfortable [financially],” Goodier said.
After some quick calculations, Lim said raising the BPT to $225 would bring the contribution to $163,000 while raising it to $250 would get it to $177,000.
During the rest of the discussion, Lim said the 2025 budget proposal is balanced with revenues and expenses anticipated at slightly less than $1.5 million.
Again, there’s no planned increase in property tax millage. Those rates would remain as they are, 0.6247 mills in areas with fire hydrants, and 0.5577 mils without hydrants. (A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value.)
Lim said the anticipated revenue is $140,000 more than in 2024 and called that “a healthy revenue speculation.”
Township Manager Lacey Faber said the township is looking forward to 2025. She said $285,000 has been earmarked for stormwater infrastructure repairs. Major projects include a 150-foot pipelining on Ridings Boulevard and a culvert and storm pipe replacement on Rocky Hill Road. She added that work is expected to begin on enhancing safe pedestrian accessibility as part of the Walkable Chadds Ford project and that there are preservation measures planned for Mother Archie’s Corner at Ring and Bullock roads.
The proposed budget is expected to be discussed again during the Nov. 6 Board of Supervisors’ meeting. If supervisors agree, the budget would then be advertised and open for public inspection before a vote in December.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
Comments