No tax increase in South Fayette
Taxpayers in South Fayette will not see a tax increase in 2014, according to the first draft of South Fayette Township’s budget for next year.
Township manager Ryan Eggleston presented the draft budget in detail at a public hearing Nov. 13. It is a balanced budget with revenues and expenditures standing at $9.096 million. The proposed millage rate of 3.48 will also remain the same. Commissioners voted to authorize the advertisement for the adoption of the budget at its December voting meeting.
Eggleston is not including a separate garbage fee in the budget for the coming year.
The proposed budget includes a few changes for 2014, including the addition of a public works superintendent. Eggleston said the township currently employs a public works director and two foremen. He is proposing that one of the foremen’s titles be changed to superintendent and that one will remain a foreman.
A part-time community development director is also included in the figures, with a proposed salary of $19,000 per year. Eggleston said hiring a community development director would be a “smart move” for the township as South Fayette “tries to increase the things we’re doing from a development standpoint.” An additional $5,000 is proposed for community development expenses.
A $640,000 capital budget was also presented at the meeting. Eggleston said when the budget process began, he went to each department head and asked them for “reasonable requests.” He said the original request from all of the departments combined was nearly $2 million.
“This is less than one-third of what was requested,” Eggleston said.
Items in the proposed capital budget included a police car at $30,000, a used street sweeper at $50,000, a used lawnmower at $50,000 and tires for the township’s grader at a cost of $20,000.
Website upgrades were also included in the proposed capital budget at $30,000. Eggleston pointed out that the proposal received from Civic Plus for website upgrades was less than the budgeted amount.
Eggleston also included a disc golf course for one of the township’s parks in the capital budget at a cost of about $20,000.
About $300,000 was included in the proposed capital budget for paving projects.
The board will continue discussion on the 2014 budget at its Dec. 4 workshop meeting and is scheduled to adopt it at the Dec. 11 meeting.