Collegeville Municipal Building. Photo by James Short.
Future financial needs for Collegeville include new HVAC systems, a new parking lot, new flooring, a new front porch area and increased security at borough hall.
Collegeville Borough voted through a $4.8 million expense budget with no tax increase for 2025 Wednesday night.
Revenues in the budget are $4.84 million, leaving a surplus of $2,004. Major revenue sources include $2.05 million in real estate property taxes, $1.3 million in local taxes, $152,690 in licenses and permits, and $920,000 in interfund transfers.
Expenditures include $464,312 for executive expenses, $1.75 million for the police department, $295,000 for fire services, $484,000 for highway services, and $173,000 for the parks department.
The borough completed a $331,000 Green Light Go traffic signal project, of which it will be reimbursed $264,000 via a grant. An MS4 streambank restoration project is budgeted for $209,000, and the borough applied for a $171,000 grant that has not been rewarded yet. Either way, the borough must complete the project. If grant money is received, then it would go back into the capital, according to a budget presentation.
All expenses will be slightly higher in 2025 than this year. The borough will put $15,000 toward a new roof at borough hall, per the report.
Future financial needs for Collegeville include new HVAC systems, a new parking lot, new flooring, a new front porch area and increased security at borough hall.
Council Vice President Gary Hoffmann there will be extensive traffic signal maintenance and improvements in the borough, including pedestrian crossings at Second and Park avenues and at Second Avenue and Wawa. Main and Third streets, he said, needs a complete overhaul of the control systems and new pedestrian intercept modules.
“There will be a complete overhaul of the system,” Hoffmann said. “Both have high traffic and high pedestrian crossings with the park. Cameras weren’t picking stuff up.”
Collegeville Police down the line will also get enhanced body cameras and laptops for patrol cars.
Hoffmann said the finance committee is working to establish a 5-year budget with 10-year projections. He said the borough established a capital improvement fund in 2022 that has grown to more than $900,000, which will help to match grants, fund reimbursement grants, and help pay for future maintenance.
At present, Collegeville’s capital account has $60,500 for parks, $503,000 for streets, $39,000 for police and administration, and $477,789 in unallocated funds.
“Think of a savings account, where you should have six to nine months of savings in there. When we took over, all this was empty,” Hoffmann said. “There was nothing. We were borrowing to pay our bills at the end of the year, which was a horrible way to do it. We’ve come a long way since we’ve taken over the budget.”
Hoffmann said he was not happy with not being at six months of savings yet.
“We’ve got to increase that,” he said. “There’s no tax increase this year, but next year we have to see what we can look at and see if anything is going to be needed to be done after that year.”
