Salt, police radios and pensions add up to proposed 7-cent tax increase
Hamilton mayor Kelly Yaede spent much of March faulting the state for her township’s budget woes.
But there are plenty of other issues contributing to the proposed 7-cent tax increase in 2014, ranging from winter weather clean-up to continued investment in public safety. They all add up to one thing: the average taxpayer will fork over $96 more in municipal taxes in 2014 than in 2013.
Yaede presented a proposed budget to council last month that would raise property taxes $8 per month for a property valued at $135,000, the township average. Yaede said the increase had more to do with the state keeping funds intended for township use than any kind of municipal spending problem.
Still, the township has committed to spending in 2014, even if it had its hand forced in some areas. The largest example of this is winter weather operations, where the administration had to triple its budget. Hamilton Township had spent $1 million more on snow plows and road salt in the first two months of 2014 than it did in all of 2013. Last winter, the township spent $194,000. It has used all but $100,000 of its proposed $1.3-million winter operations budget for 2014 thus far. Yaede called this winter “unprecedented,” and said snow plowing and salting alone accounted for a 2-cent tax rate increase.
Yaede also backed up her professed devotion to public safety in her budget, maintaining the level of the police force and purchasing 11 new police vehicles. The new vehicles will cost $340,000.
The major public safety expense will be the replacement of police radio systems, at a budgeted cost of $1.37-million. Yaede’s opponents in November 2013’s mayoral election had made something of an issue about the police division’s outdated communication systems. The 2014 budget takes care of the problem.
“That’s a critical need,” township business administrator John Ricci said, of the radios. “We’ll move ahead with that.”
Like its taxpayers, the government also has seen its cost of “living” continue to increase. Those creeping expenses come in the form of payments, like salaries and pensions.
The municipal government has tried to counteract this by cutting spending in some areas. The township eliminated seven positions last year, and spread the responsibilities out to other employees. It eliminated its in-house print shop. It renegotiated contracts and got its employees to contribute for their health insurance, which cut $1-million in costs. Even with the savings, the township still spends nearly $20-million per year on health insurance, Ricci said.
The township also held an online tax sale, which allowed it to cut down on the amount of uncollected taxes. This, too, saves the township money since it doesn’t have to front the bill for taxes it hasn’t received.
In all, the administration has cut $4.2-million cut in spending since Yaede became mayor. Municipal spending is now below 2011 levels, Yaede said. She hopes to continue finding ways to save.
“We will continue to look for ways to work more efficient, but it’s a challenge now,” Yaede said.
Township CFO John Barrett said more than $7 million in potential tax increases have not been passed on to taxpayers during the last three years. The municipal government instead cut costs and used its surplus. With surplus running low, the township couldn’t finance the budget to achieve a flat tax rate again; it had to create more revenue this year, Barrett said.
It is the third increase since 2008. Coincidentally, all three increases came after mayoral elections. The rate increased 37-cents in 2008, John Bencivengo’s first year in office. That budget, originally the responsibility of Glen Gilmore’s administration, was introduced six months late—by Bencivengo. The tax rate increased 2 cents in 2012, after Bencivengo won his second term. And now, a 7-cent increase in 2014, months after Yaede’s victory for the remainder of Bencivengo’s second term.
Yaede said she understood the burden a tax increase would cause, and she didn’t arrive at her decision easily.
“We do so only when absolutely necessary, when all other avenues to balance the budget have been exhausted,” she said.
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