Montgomery Township board moves $1.1 million surplus into reserves

By Dan Sokil dsokil@journalregister.com

A stronger than expected 2012, and revenue from one large supermarket project in particular, put Montgomery Townships budget well into the black in 2012.

The townships board of supervisors voted unanimously Monday night to transfer $1.1 million into township reserve funds, most of a $1.3 million surplus that township Finance Director Shannon Drosnock credited to a combination of several factors.

The townships revenues were strong in 2012, led predominantly by building permits and earned income taxes, which were led by the Wegmans commercial construction project and new residential housing permits, she said.

Total township revenues increased by a total of roughly $400,000, from a total of $11.7 million in 2011, to $12.1 million last year, fueled largely by an increase of $345,000 in building permit revenues and a $159,000 jump in earned income tax revenues, Drosnock told the board.

Her fourth quarter budget presentation outlined the townships 2011 revenue year-end totals and final figures from 2012, with the latter year showing improvements in most categories to the benefit of the townships bottom line. Permit and license fees totaled $1.556 million in 2012, up from $1.165 million the year before, and total tax revenues from all sources climbed to $9.726 million in 2012 from $9.572 million in 2011.

Earned income and business privilege tax revenues also increased over 2011 figures, and on the expense side of the townships ledgers, nearly all categories showed costs in line with or below estimates.

The largest township expense, its police department, saw spending increase slightly to $5.652 million from $5.459 million in 2011 largely due to personnel costs spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement between department and township, but Drosnock said that increase was offset by the corresponding increase in township revenues across the board.

Our Code department expenses were $885,000 against $838,000 in 2011. That is a 5.5 percent increase, and a large portion of that is related to additional expenses offset by additional revenues from new construction projects, she said.

Overall, the level costs and increased revenues led to a year end surplus of $1.3 million to the townships general fund, leaving that fund at $4.1 million at the end of fiscal year 2012. Based on those figures Drosnock recommended, and the board voted, to transfer $1.1 million of that surplus money into the townships capital reserve fund to pre-fund three capital project expenditures slated for this year: $676,000 for the townships 14-year road plan, $386,000 for 2013s equipment replacements, $23,000 to fund an eventual roof replacement of the township administration building and $15,000 for HVAC system upgrades to the same building.

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Montgomery Township board moves $1.1 million surplus into reserves