- Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:41 am
#309238
Parkside faces tax increase for a fifth consecutive year
Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009
By KENN STARK
Times Correspondent
PARKSIDE — Borough council has unanimously approved a final 2010 municipal budget that will require a 9 percent property tax increase to balance, while next year’s trash collection fee will hold steady.
Next year will be the fifth straight year Parkside residents have been hit with a tax hike. The final 2010 budget calls for a 0.7-mill property tax increase.
The 2010 real estate tax rate will be 8.36 mills. For a property owner assessed at $75,000, the tax increase will translate to paying an additional $52.50 in borough tax next year.
According to Councilman/Finance Chair William Howell, the tax hike is mainly due to a 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums. Most 2010 budget line items are the same or less than this year.
The final budget of $1,136,740 represents a 6.5 percent increase over 2009 spending.
The greatest single expense in the 2010 budget is the $597,000 earmarked for police protection, which is 52 percent of the total.
The trash service fee will remain at $160 per family dwelling in 2010, breaking a chain of four consecutive years of increases.
The borough managed to keep the trash fee in check, despite a 50 percent increase in the processing surcharge levied by the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority. To achieve this fiscal feat, bulk trash collections have been reduced from one per month to just two next year, on April 6 and Oct. 5.
In other tax-related matters, council has unanimously approved a pay raise for the tax collector, bringing the annual salary of Olivia Avila-Deitman to $5,000, effective Jan. 4.
In her December report to council, Avila-Deitman noted that 43 tax folios still remain unpaid for 2009.
Council also approved a tax/revenue anticipation loan in the amount of $100,000. The low-interest loan will be used to pay the borough’s bills in early 2010, until tax revenue starts to arrive in the spring.
Published: Tuesday, December 22, 2009
By KENN STARK
Times Correspondent
PARKSIDE — Borough council has unanimously approved a final 2010 municipal budget that will require a 9 percent property tax increase to balance, while next year’s trash collection fee will hold steady.
Next year will be the fifth straight year Parkside residents have been hit with a tax hike. The final 2010 budget calls for a 0.7-mill property tax increase.
The 2010 real estate tax rate will be 8.36 mills. For a property owner assessed at $75,000, the tax increase will translate to paying an additional $52.50 in borough tax next year.
According to Councilman/Finance Chair William Howell, the tax hike is mainly due to a 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums. Most 2010 budget line items are the same or less than this year.
The final budget of $1,136,740 represents a 6.5 percent increase over 2009 spending.
The greatest single expense in the 2010 budget is the $597,000 earmarked for police protection, which is 52 percent of the total.
The trash service fee will remain at $160 per family dwelling in 2010, breaking a chain of four consecutive years of increases.
The borough managed to keep the trash fee in check, despite a 50 percent increase in the processing surcharge levied by the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority. To achieve this fiscal feat, bulk trash collections have been reduced from one per month to just two next year, on April 6 and Oct. 5.
In other tax-related matters, council has unanimously approved a pay raise for the tax collector, bringing the annual salary of Olivia Avila-Deitman to $5,000, effective Jan. 4.
In her December report to council, Avila-Deitman noted that 43 tax folios still remain unpaid for 2009.
Council also approved a tax/revenue anticipation loan in the amount of $100,000. The low-interest loan will be used to pay the borough’s bills in early 2010, until tax revenue starts to arrive in the spring.
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