Published: November 19, 2005 12:01 am      

Summerhill Township faces $50,000 deficit

BEAVERDALE — Summerhill Township supervisors are facing a $50,000 deficit that will have to be covered by a 50 percent increase in municipal taxes unless deep cuts are made.

Such cuts in the 2006 budget likely would require layoffs in the maintenance department and police force. But officials vowed Friday to keep a tax hike at a minimum.

“We’re going to have to have a tax increase. But it’s not going to be 7 mills. It’s not going to be 6 mills or 5 mills,” Supervisor Ed Hudak said. “We’ve gotten to the point where you fix the roads or you have a police department. It’s that simple.”

Outgoing Supervisor Earl Wherry took his vow a step further.

“I’m not raising taxes 1 mill,” he said.

Wherry, an 18-year supervisor, lost his re-election bid this month to political newcomer and local businessman Lee Bassett.

The township’s financial plight is being blamed on problems similar to those facing most municipalities, including higher costs for fuel and health insurance.

After word spread this week that taxes could shoot up 7 mills, an unusually large number of residents attended the supervisors bi-weekly meeting.

More than 20 people, many of them angry, crowded the small meeting room to question the board on everything from why the police department is so large to why officials are not doing more to find grant money.

One woman suggested the supervisors sponsor what she termed a “policemen’s-firemen’s ball” to raise money for township services.

The 2006 budget projections are dire because township officials have balanced the budget using a reserve fund for the past few years. That account has been depleted, said township secretary-treasurer Joe Burneff.

“We did have a reserve fund but we used it all in a matter of two years,” he said.

Burneff has prepared a tentative budget showing expenditures of $362,399 and revenue coming in at $319,291.

Each mill generates $14,000 and the township’s current tax rate is at 7.35 mills.

“I presented them with a budget showing we would be $49,000 in deficit if we don’t do something for next year,” Burneff said.

With barely enough money to get the township through the end of the year, the supervisors this week agreed to take out a tax-anticipation loan. That loan will cover the bills through the first few months of 2006 until real estate taxes begin coming in.

It will be the first time since the 1960s that finances have been so tight that there is little fund balance to begin the new year, said longtime Supervisor William “Hap” Evansic.

“This is a tentative budget. There has to be some changes made,” said Evansic.

Hudak said he is going over the budget line by line to come up with a spending plan that will ease the tax bite.

Further discussion is expected at the township’s next meeting Dec. 6.



Kathy Mellott can be reached at 539-5328 or kmellott@tribdem.com.