Chestnuthill sets tax rate for 2020

The Chestnuthill Township supervisors reviewed the 2020 budget and fiscal plan at their meeting on Nov. 19. They’ll vote on it at their December meeting.

Township manager David Albright said the total millage rate for 2020 is 1.41 mills. It was 8.7 mills in 2019. The reason for the difference is due to Monroe County’s reassessment. Properties have not been assessed since 1986, he said. Any change in individual property taxes is due to the reassessment.

Of the 1.41 mills, 1.17 mills is for the Chestnuthill Township municipal and road budget and 0.24 mills is for the West End Fire Company.

Albright explained that “for every $100,000 of real estate tax assessment, the 1.41 mills will generate $141 in real estate taxes for fiscal year 2020.”

If township residents want to calculate how much their real estate taxes will increase or decrease due to the change, the township put a tax estimator on its website that can be used for this.

“It won’t work for other municipalities, because the mills are different,” Albright said. It’s calibrated specifically for the millage rate at Chestnuthill Township.”

To access it, go to www.chestnuthilltwp-pa.gov, and click on the square at the bottom of the home page that says Budget. Next, click on the bar that says Tax Estimator. Type in the 2020 real estate tax assessment value for your property in the space for the new value, and then the 2019 real estate tax assessment value in the other space. The calculator automatically gives the amount of the increase or decrease in taxes.

Homeowners can also calculate the difference on their own. Albright said take the old real estate tax assessment value and multiply it by 6.17, not 4 as was done previously in Monroe County.

Albright reported at the meeting that the township’s total budget expenditures are $7.2 million, which is more than 2019 was at $6.4 million. This is due to the cost to replace two bridges next year.

One of the bridges is on Silver Valley Road and the other is on Hypsie Gap Road. Supervisors’ Chairman Carl Gould II said the bridge replacement projects will go out to bid next year. He expects they will be replaced next summer if the weather cooperates. The bridge on Silver Valley Road would be done first, and then the one on Hypsie Gap Road.

Gould said the township does not have a grant to help cover the cost of the construction. But the township has been saving money in its general fund and has funds earmarked for infrastructure projects such as the bridge replacements. The township expects the replacements to cost about $2.6 million.

The budget also includes a grant of $381,000 and funding for emergency services, parks, recycling, composting and historical resources and road maintenance and improvements, Albright said.

Maintenance and improvements to the township’s highways and streets make up 43% of the budget at $3.1 million. Public safety is 18.1% or $1.3 million, and capital projects is 16.7% or $1.2 million. General government expenditures are 15.1% of the budget at nearly $1.1 million, followed by culture and recreation at 5.2% or $372,867. Community development is 1.8% on $126,875.