Lower Frederick Township. Photo by James Short.
“As of Sept. 30, we have spent 64.7% of the 2024 budget," township Manager Jason Wager said.
Lower Frederick Township Supervisors will get a look at the Fiscal Year 2025 budget at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Township Manager Jason Wager earlier this month updated supervisors on the state of the current budget and its year-end projections, as of Sept. 30.
Wager said the township has received almost 88% of its general fund tax revenue, which was budgeted at $871,584. The general fund is projected to have about a $1,000 surplus.
The earned income tax revenue budget of $780,449 is over its amount at $828,699. Projections for end-of-year show earned income tax to reach more than $1 million in revenue.
“The projected EIT will come in well above our budget for this year,” Wager said.
The township real estate tax – comprised of general tax, a fire tax, and an ambulance tax – collection is at 97% of the budget, per the supervisors report.
“We are currently projected to collect over 2.7% more revenue than our overall 2024 revenue budget,” Wager said.
The 2024 sewer fund is projected to hit $1.63 million in revenue, about 110% over the budget, Wager said. The open space fund is projected to be 10% over the real budget for 2024.
In 2024, major township expenses included two police vehicles, the hiring of a new officer, a new public works truck, and road infrastructure improvements. These improvements included oiling and chipping 4.9 miles of roads, the Meadow Lane and Alexander Drive culvert replacements, and the Zieglerville Road swale and inlet project, Wager said.
“As of Sept. 30, we have spent 64.7% of the 2024 budget. We are projecting to finish 4.5% under the overall expense budgets for the general, sewer, liquid fuels, open space, and ARPA/Covid relief funds,” Wager said.
The projected fund balance for end-of-year is $2.15 million.
Wager said the 2025 budget will project all funds out to 2032. It will also include road projects, police and public works vehicles and equipment expenses, township property security upgrades, a Spring Mount sidewalk project, and a Coble Park rehabilitation, he said.
“There are multiple subdivisions and new home construction and we will talk about how that will impact permits and affect the sewer fund,” he said.
Wager said there are currently deficit budgets for the general and sewer funds.
Supervisors are expected to authorize to advertise the budget at their Nov. 6 meeting. The budget will be available for public review on Nov. 7, with final adoption set for Dec. 3.
Wager said the Spring Mount sidewalk project is fully funded, but the township needed to pay costs up front to get reimbursed from the county. The same goes for the Coble Park project in 2025, he said.
“We didn’t have that in this year’s budget because I wasn’t fully aware of the grants. So this will end up being a pass-through,” Wager said. “It elevates our expenses and revenue.”
When asked about bridge projects in 2025, Wager said there were no major bridge projects built into the current draft budget.
