Hamiltonban approves 2012 budget

(12/15) The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors approved their proposed 2012 budget package at their December 6 meeting without necessitating raising taxes.

The general fund budget was approved in the amount of $1,239,892, which includes a $500,000 grant, causing the anticipated revenue to appear inflated.

The Orrtanna Treatment Plant sewer fund budget for 2012 was approved by the board of supervisors in the amount of $111,515.79, while the State Liquid Fuels budget was set at $109,634.

The current tax rate will remain at 1.2359 mills.

The last time the mill rate was changed was in 2010 for the 2011 budget to reflect the results of the county-wide reassessment. Aside from that adjustment, there has been no tax increase in Hamiltonban Township in six years.

The total projected revenue for Hamiltonban Township in 2012, according to the board of supervisors, is $1,239,892, "which is an increase in revenue of $598,606 over 2011 because of anticipated grant funding receipts."

In the board’s official budget statement, it was noted that, "That increase is due to the expected receipt of the delayed $25,276 ARLE (state Automated Red Light Enforcement) grant award for new Fairfield School zone warning lights, $500,000 in RACP (state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program) funds for the maintenance building construction, the Gravel and Dirt Road grants for $40,000, and the annual ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) interest rebate grant of $22,320."

The only budgeted expense over and above day-to-day operations costs contained in the general fund include the replacement of the township secretary/treasurer computer.

Of the Orrtanna Treatment Plant sewer fund budget, an additional $29,395.79 in revenue will be utilized to complete repairs to manholes, continue filming (videotaping) the remainder of the system’s lines, and for repairs to those lines.

A number of projects will be addressed within the State Liquid Fuels budget, including seal coating the entirety of Old Waynesboro Road, seal coating and leveling of low spots on Moritz and Newman roads, applying Grip Tight to Beechwood Drive and Franklin, seal coating Carrolls Tract Road in Orrtanna, and repairing a section of Cold Springs Road in the 1800 block and from the railroad tracks to Carrolls Tract Road.

"The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors continues to provide quality services, to provide for the general safety of our community, (and) to use sound fiscal management…," the board of supervisors remarked in their official budget statement.

Read other articles on Fairfield