- Bethlehem Township’s proposed 2024 budget keeps property taxes the same at 7.74 mills, officials said in a budget hearing Tuesday
- While the township’s general fund will carry a substantial balance into 2024, that is unlikely to continue in the years to come
- Township Manager Doug Bruce forecasted a major shortfall in the township’s fire tax fund and an increase in stormwater fees
BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — Bethlehem Township’s $20.9 million proposed 2024 budget keeps property taxes in the township flat, Township Manager Doug Bruce explained in a budget hearing Tuesday.
The budget would keep the tax rate at 7.74 mills.
Stormwater fees also would stay the same in 2024, but the cost of sewer service in the township will rise 3% next year, after an increase to the City of Bethlehem’s rates for municipalities it serves.
While the township’s general fund is carrying a healthy balance into 2024, Bruce said, that is “a short-term aberration,” only possible with $2.5 million in federal pandemic aid, a $1 million drop in pension contributions from well-performing investments and $400,000 in spending shifted to the recently created stormwater fund.
“The federal [American Rescue Plan Act] payments are done," Bruce wrote in a budget introduction dated Monday. "There are no additional general fund expenditures due to be transferred to the stormwater fund.
"And the township’s pension funds recently received a new two-year valuation,” requiring at least $600,000 in additional pension spending by 2025.
“Several years ago I wrote in a budget message: ‘This is the stark financial picture of Bethlehem Township… a mature, nearly built-out municipality where annual revenues have not quite been keeping up with annual expenses for the better part of a decade.’ I think this continues to be the case.”
Other shortfalls loom in the township’s financial future, Bruce said. At current rates, the township’s 0.15-mill fire tax “will not come close to covering” a planned $2 million purchase of two new fire engines in 2026.
As a result, the township likely will need to borrow money against future fire tax income to pay for them when the time comes.
“Everything is okay, but the board and the municipal authority have also approved a very aggressive construction schedule.”Bethlehem Township Manager Doug Bruce
Bruce also forecast a significant increase to township stormwater fees in 2026 because of “extensive” infrastructure projects in the works, with the first payments on construction debt set for 2025.
“Everything is OK, but the board and the municipal authority have also approved a very aggressive construction schedule,” he said.
When the stormwater tax was created, The board of supervisors pledged they would not raise the fee for four years after it took effect in 2022; that pledge expires in 2025.
To improve the township’s long-term financial standing, the township is reducing spending on debt service, from $2.5 million in 2023 to $1.9 million in 2024. By 2027, without any new borrowing, that number drops to $229,000.
In terms of major capital spending, the budget includes more than $700,000 for new digital-capable radios for township police and fire departments, $515,000 to replace all of the playground equipment in the township’s municipal park and $495,000 for an emergency traffic signal at 9th Street and Freemansburg Avenue.
The capital projects amount to $3.14 million in total spending, $1.27 million of which will come from the township’s general fund. The rest is covered by grants and other sources.
The budget includes an additional $640,000 in road repaving projects, funded through the township’s share of liquid fuel tax funds collected by the Commonwealth.
The budget does not address a study, completed earlier this year, evaluating whether to renovate the township’s public works facility or to build a new one.
It found that a renovation would cost $10 million; building a new property at the township’s Hope Road would cost $15 million.
For now, the township will continue to maintain the facility they have for as long as possible.
