EMMAUS, Pa. — With a bit of increased cost to the borough comes a bit of increased cost to the residents in Emmaus' proposed 2023 budget.
The budget will be voted on during at Monday's Borough Council meeting.
- Emmaus is set to approve its 2023 budget at Borough Council's meeting Monday
- The budget sees increases in some property taxes, water fees and sewer fees
- Digital services are increasing in cost for the borough as IT and software becomes more expensive
General fund and fire fund taxes remain the same at 6.3514 mills and 1.3961 mills, respectively.
At its last meeting, council approved increased taxes via a street lighting tax of 0.15 mills and a special road fund tax of 0.32 mills.
A mill is a rate based on the amount per $1,000 of the assessed value of a property. One mill equals $0.001 per for every $1 of a property's assessed value.
That means the owner of a home assessed for taxing purposes at $200,000 would pay $93.93 more in township tax next year — a 6.2% increase.
In the statement on financial impacts of the new budget, the borough said the condition of the streets is a common concern and the tax would go toward improvements by freeing up $300,000-$400,000 per year for street work.
Previously, street lighting costs have been paid out of the the budget's Liquid Fuels Fund.
Water rates also will increase, with rates for the first 40,000 gallons used rising from $2.50 to $3.15, with similar increases of less than a dollar for the larger usage brackets.
The borough estimates that for a household of four, the annual cost will increase $41.60, up per quarter from $40 to $55.40.
A new water infrastructure account will be created, which for residents will require a $15 quarterly fee, bringing total estimated increase in water cost for a family of four to $101.60.
The borough said that a feasibility study to remove microplastic pollutants, or PFAS, from drinking water is showing that doing so will have a significant cost and the borough's well water holding tanks will be in need of significant repairs.
Also increasing is sewer rates, because of the borough's required effort to remove storm water from the sewer system. The borough also said it is preparing to borrow $4 million to continue improving sewer mains and manholes to reduce water entering the system.
The sewer rates will increase from $2.80 per 1,000 gallons to $3.75 per 1,000 gallons, which the borough estimates to be an increase of $15.20 per quarter, or $60.80 per year for a family of four.
The expense for software contracts is set to nearly double, alongside increases in IT management cost.
The budget's software contracts line increased from $58,000 budgeted in 2022 to the actual 2022 cost being $69,651.68 to now the budgeted cost being $122,648.
Borough Manager Shane Pepe said that includes increased costs for information technology budgets, including for the borough's server systems, the cost of building a new borough website, the cost of a social media archiver and for a capital improvements and budgeting software program.
Because of a recent security breech, the borough has had to transition to a temporary website with more limited functionality than the prior site as a new website is commissioned and built over the coming months.
The line item for server IT management also increased from the $55,000 budgeted (and $62,948.60 actual) this year to $102,000 for 2023 for Emmaus police department to meet regulatory requirements regarding cybersecurity, increasing IT costs and the cost of acquiring a new main server for the department.
View the final budget draft and statement from the borough on rate and tax increases below:
Emmaus 2023 Budget FInancial Impacts by Jay Bradley on Scribd
Budget Final Draft December 5, 2022 Clean by Jay Bradley on Scribd
