Upper St. Clair commissioners approve 2020 budget

The Upper St. Clair commissioners voted to adopt their 2020 budget during their Dec. 2 meeting.
The $22 million general fund budget holds the real estate tax rate at 3.83 mills and the earned income tax rate at 0.80%.
Upper St. Clair has not raised real estate taxes since 2010, and the earned income tax rate has not increased since 2007.
Real estate and earned income taxes make up almost 80% of revenue in the proposed general fund budget. Operating revenue is up 2.17% from the 2019 budget.
Operating expenditures increased 4.93% from the 2019 budget, with public safety and public works making up approximately 65% of the township’s expenses. Some of the factors lending to this change in operating expenditures include the Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) for the police defined benefit pension plan, which increased by approximately $98,000, to $386,944. The MMO for the public works defined benefit pension plan increased by about $34,000, to $189,463, and rock salt costs increased 16%, resulting in a $100,000 increase to the budget.
Sanitary sewer expenditures include $1.625 million for source reduction work and $4.3 million for wastewater treatment. The ALCOSAN rates will be increasing 7%, but the township multiplier will remain at 2.0 for 2020.
Also included in the 2020 proposed budget are capital projects, including $1.8 million for the street and roadway program, $500,00 for storm sewers, and $740,000 for traffic signal improvements on Route 19 in conjunction with PennDOT.
A $3.5 million expenditure for a potential municipal building renovation project, which would be funded by a matching amount of bond proceeds, is also included in the capital projects fund.
In other business, the board gave final approval to a nonresidential planned development at 1140 Boyce Rd. The property, a single-family dwelling, is being converted to office space with a parking lot.
The board also voted to establish a public hearing on Feb. 3, 2020 for an amendment to chapter 130 of the township code entitled “zoning” to add conditional uses in the – special business zoning district.