Cheltenham Township wants to hike taxes by 20% and boost firefighter funding
The average homeowner would pay about $89 more, per township estimates. Cheltenham is also eliminating its stormwater fee after the state Supreme Court ruled such fees are illegal.
Cheltenham Township, already the most property tax-burdened municipality in Montgomery County, has proposed a plan to raise taxes next year to limit an impending structural deficit.
The township portion of property taxes would increase about 20% under the draft budget. The average homeowner’s bill would rise $89, according to township estimates, even after the cancellation of the stormwater fee, which the state Supreme Court ruled this year is an illegal tax. The average combined property tax and stormwater fee bill this year was $1,762.
With the elimination of the stormwater fee, which averaged $220 for homeowners, the effective tax hike is 5%, commissioner board president Matthew Areman said during a Wednesday budget presentation.
Areman emphasized that since most of Cheltenham residents’ property taxes fund the school district, the township’s tax hike only affects a small portion of their bill.
Officials have long said the township is struggling financially due to its small commercial tax base, high proportion of tax-exempt land, and the cost of lifetime healthcare benefits for retirees — a policy the township began limiting after 2013, according to staff union contracts.
Still, about half of the township’s spending on staff health insurance is for retirees, Areman said Wednesday.
To pay off debt, the township voted to sell its sewer system to a private company in 2018. The same company, Aqua, also supplies the town’s drinking water.
A 20% increase would leave a deficit of about $223,000 for 2027, according to a slideshow Cheltenham shared at a budget meeting last week, but there would be a surplus by 2028.
The township had also considered slashing $100,000 from the library budget or halving a planned $200,000 funding increase to fire companies. The library cut would have required staff layoffs and reductions in weekend hours, according to a township budget slide.
Instead, the draft budget retains the fire increase, which the township’s four volunteer companies will put toward recruitment and retention, and avoids the library cut.
“The township’s budget is much more than just a list of numbers on a spreadsheet,” Areman said at the Wednesday meeting. “It’s both a roadmap of the township’s work plan for the coming year and a statement about the community’s priorities.”
The finance committee will decide on Nov. 10 whether to adopt the draft budget, Areman said. The preliminary budget would then go to the commissioner board for approval on Nov. 18, and put online for public inspection by Nov. 23.
A final budget vote is set for Dec. 16.
Inquirer Greater Abington
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