​How Satisfied Are You With Newtown Township Services?

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) engaged Econsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI Solutions) to develop a comprehensive multi-year financial management plan. This effort is partially funded by a Strategic Management Planning Program grant awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (read "Newtown Applies for DCED Grant to Assess the Township's Financial Condition"). A five-year plan, including recommendations to improve operational efficiency and promote fiscal stability in Newtown Township, will be publicly released later this year.

Newtown Township Citizen Survey

As part of this process, Newtown is asking the community to help by completing the Newtown Township Citizen Survey. Specifically, the Township would like to know how you feel about the current state of municipal services, including:

• Police
• Fire
• Streets/highways maintenance
• Street cleaning
• Street lighting
• Snow removal
• Quality of parks
• Recreation programs
• Recreation centers/facilities
• Land use, planning, and zoning
• Code enforcement
• Business services and assistance
• Permit and licensing services

The results of the survey will assist the township in establishing a vision for the future and provide recommendations and policies to help guide future growth in our community.

Thinking About Police in Your Neighborhood

Recent demonstrations linked to the #BlackLivesMatter movement have shone a light on police tactics and "community policing" (read, for example, "Local Demonstrations in Support of #BlackLivesMatter"). It is not surprising, therefore, that the survey asks, "when thinking about police in your neighborhood, how you would rate the following (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor)":

• Level of police presence
• Police responsiveness
• Police approachability
• Police ability to prevent crime
• Police officer conduct

Are You Willing to Pay Higher Taxes?

The elephant in the survey is Question 15: "Would you be willing to pay higher Township taxes for increased services?"

More than 60% of general funds revenue comes from Earned Income Tax (EIT). In light of the projected loss of EIT revenue due to COVID-19, the wording of Question 15 might better be "Would you be willing to pay higher Township taxes to prevent cutbacks in current services?"

UPDATE (9/8/20): At the August 31, 2020, [Act32Bucks] Bucks County Tax Collection Committee meeting, Joseph W. Lazzaro, who represented Keystone, which collects EIT, reported that for Bucks County as a whole EIT collections are down by only $13,000 compared to 2019 which was a banner year. Mr. Lazzaro anticipated that by end of the day (8/31) all this and more will be collected.

Obviously, results depend on local residents. Mr. Lazzaro pointed out that if a collector area (e.g., school district or township) has a lot of employees who work in the restaurant industry then EIT will be impacted more than if residents worked in healthcare and the pharma industry (which is more like Newtown). He even suggested that the latter type of employee may be making more money this year than last year and thus be paying more EIT offsetting any loses from other more vulnerable employees.

It should be noted that Newtown Township has one of the lowest property taxes in the area. The Township's 4.5 mill tax amounts to $196.20 yearly town tax on a home with a market value of $400,000 and an assessed value of $43,600 (the approximate average home market/assessed value in Newtown Township in 2018). None of the tax money collected is deposited in the General Fund, which pays salaries of the Police, Public Works, EMS and other township departments as well as other expenses such as legal fees, etc.

Here's how your 4.5 RE tax millage is allocated:

• 2.625 Mills go to debt servicing, which includes paying off loans for increased road repairs and the town building mortgage
• 0.875 Mill goes to fire protection services (in support of the Newtown Fire Association volunteer fire department)
• 0.55 Mill goes to fire hydrant maintenance
• 0.45 Mill goes to rescue squad purposes (Newtown Ambulance Squad)

The following figures are slides that were part of the ESI presentation:

Figure 1: This chart shows the Township's General Fund end-of-year balance, which is decreasing every year due to deficit spending. This balance, which is designed to pay for unanticipated expenses, has been used over the past several years to cover the deficit; i.e., budgeting for more expenses than anticipated income. Without "corrective actions" shown in See Figure 2, the balance at the end of 2020 is anticipated to fall well below the mandated 8% minimum.

Figure 2: Possible "Corrective Actions" anticipated to ensure a 2020 general fund balance of 8% (see Figure 1). NOTE: $290,000 was taken out the 2020 road program already, which means only 2 miles of roads will be repaved this year v.s. the planned 5 miles before COVID19.

Some Survey Results

"How Much Do Newtown Residents Like Township Parks & Recreation?"

Related Content:

"#COVID19 Is Forcing State and Local Governments to Make Painful Budget Choices Ahead"

"Newtown Township Anticipates More Than $1.3 Million Budget Shortfall Due to #COVID19"

"Rough Road Ahead for Newtown Township"