Patton Township keeps taxes steady in 2015 budget

A public hearing on the adopted tentative budget drew only one resident Wednesday during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

Finance Director Kim Wyatt presented a breakdown of the budget for the board with a work session immediately following the presentation and hearing.

According to Wyatt, the 2015 budget is looking at $14.2 million in revenues and $14.8 million in expenses. A total of $593,522 will be deducted from the reserves, leaving a 2016 fund balance of $1.7 million.

The budget proposes no changes in rates, she said, keeping the real estate tax at 8.9 mills. While the millage rate remains unchanged for 2015, it likely won’t be the same in 2016 due to the open space referendum proposing a 0.6 mill increase that passed on Nov. 4.

The township has the authority to borrow up to $3.5 million toward the purchase of open space, but no money will be borrowed until the board knows what property can be sold and how much to spend, township Manager Doug Erickson said.

“We can’t spend more than $3.5 million,” he said. Debt payments on any money borrowed will likely begin in 2016.

Initiatives for the 2015 budget include continued work on the Waddle Road project, improvements to Valley Vista Road — including research into adaptive signaling on the road, and an additional employee to both the road crew and police department.

The township will see one slight delay in revenue flow toward the end of 2015, Wyatt said, with Penn State outsourcing its payroll to ADP payroll services in January.

Income tax remittance from Penn State will move from a monthly payment to a quarterly payment, meaning the township won’t get its final $185,000 payment until 2016.

“For us, that’s no problem,” she said.

“But other municipalities might be a little concerned about that.”

According to Erickson, the board had questioned the $10,000 contribution to the S&A Fields in Ferguson Township. There had been questions about the ownership of the park and what will come of it, he said, as the Teener League maintains the fields.

According to a previous agenda, the board had been concerned whether or not other teams could use the fields when the Teener League was not, but according to Erickson, the Centre Soccer Association had been out on the field recently. Ferguson Township is still figuring out the policy, he said.

The township budget can be viewed by the public in the Schlow Library, in the township building during regular business hours and through the township’s website.

Adoption for the final budget is slated for Dec. 10.

This story was originally published November 19, 2014 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Patton Township keeps taxes steady in 2015 budget."