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Health & Fitness

Come to the Newtown Township Budget Meeting on October 30th

This week is the first Board of Supervisors meeting concerning the 2014 Budget.  This meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 30th beginning at 6:30PM.  At this meeting, residents will be able to get a picture of the financial health of the township.  They will get a chance to see how much revenue is collected and how the Board of Supervisors and Township Manager propose to spend your money:

Having reviewed the township financial reporting as of September 30th, some of the questions that I hope are addressed at the budget meetings follow:

1.        In the 2013 budget, the township budgeted revenue from Local Services Tax to be $500,000.  They have only collected $232,160.40 so far this year.  Why does there still seem to be a problem with collecting this tax?

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2.       The contract for Riddle to provide ambulance personnel to the Township is specified in the 2013 budget at $668,120.40.  This does not include maintenance, fuel or ambulance building repair.  It also does not include $10,050.46 for ambulance billing.  So far this year, only $162,057.07 has been collected to contribute to this cost.  I hope that the Supervisors plan to audit the ambulance billing service to make sure that all reimbursements that are owed have and will be collected.  I also hope the Board of Supervisors can explain why the second ambulance that was to be included by Riddle appears to be gone.  In selecting Riddle to continue service rather than returning emergency service to the Newtown Square Fire Company, one of the reasons given was the additional ambulance.  Maybe the Supervisors will consider the Fire Company again as an ambulance service provider.

3.       In the 2013 budget, $77,830.24 was budgeted for Health-Hospital Insurance for Supervisors.  So far this year, taxpayers have paid $53,621.35 for some of the Supervisors and their families Health-Hospital Insurance.  This does not include the $7,988.65 provided to pay their deductibles.  Taxpayers can, once again, let the Supervisors know that they do not want to pay for the Supervisors’ benefits.  

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4.       Currently, the township is self-insured for unemployment.  That means if a township employee is let go, the township pays the total cost for their unemployment compensation.  In the past few years, this has been thousands of dollars.  Time again to remind the Supervisors that the taxpayers should not be footing the bill for unemployment compensation.

Budget meetings are a great opportunity to see how the Supervisors and Township Manager propose to spend your money.  It seems to me that the budget for 2014 should be able to be created without increasing your taxes.   Let them know that you want a zero tax increase in 2014! 

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