December 4, 2024

Concord Township now has a budget for 2025 and, as expected, it includes a tax increase for fire protection and emergency medical services.

“For the last six months, we’ve been in discussions with the Concordville Fire Co. They are no longer a volunteer fire company, it is a fully paid fire company, and their costs, like everyone else’s, are rising and they desperately need the money in order to provide the level of service that we’ve come to expect,” said Concord Council President Dominic Pileggi while reading the resolution authorizing the tax increase.

That tax hike brings the millage rate for fire service to 0.1683 mills which, according to Pileggi, would bring the average property tax bill to a little more than $1 per week. The increase also allows the township to fully fund the fire company’s request of $300,000 for 2025.

“We’re also anticipating entering into a five-year contract with the fire department which would lock in this number for the next five years,” he said.

The increase for 2025 is more than the 5 percent limit set by Concord’s Home Rule Charter. To go beyond that limit required a vote by supermajority, which happened with a vote of 6-0 to approve.

Also with a unanimous 6-0 vote was the 2025 budget. The total real estate tax millage is 0.6383 mills. That breaks down to 0.2060 for general purposes, 0.0640 for the library, 0.0610 for properties in fire hydrant districts, 0.1390 for open space, and the already mentioned 0.1683 for fire protection services. (A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)

Anticipated expenses for next year are $4.364 million, while revenues are estimated at $4.137 million. Township Manager Amanda Serock said a fund balance left over from 2024 would be used to make up the difference.

Other business

• Council awarded several bid contracts during the Dec. 3 meeting. Members voted to give McGovern Environmental a three-year $493,000 contract for sludge hauling. McGovern was the lowest of four budders, said Council Co-Vice President John Gillespie. Stonewood Landscaping was awarded a contract of $131,300 for the Carter Way streambank restoration, which involves restoring 500 linear feet of stream. A third award went to JMS Paving and Excavating for $324,757 as part of the Beaver Valley Park project, Gillespie said.

• The continued conditional use hearing for David Auto to have a car wash on Conchester Highway is scheduled to resume on Monday, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m.