The Yardley Borough Council unanimously approved a 2023 final budget at its Dec. 6 meeting with a property tax increase of 1.34 mills.
Before the $1.88 million budget was passed, residents Albert Celini and Frederick Rabena asked council to consider forming a volunteer Citizens Budget Committee that would explore whether there are ways to make police coverage of the borough more cost effective.
After the meeting, Celini said the group would specifically see if a merger with the neighboring Lower Makefield Township Police Department, or paying that township’s force to patrol Yardley, would serve the borough better from a financial perspective. The idea of a merger was last explored in 2012 and was voted down by council after an ad hoc committee recommended against it.
The property tax increase for 2023 will mean an additional $37 in annual taxes for a resident with a property assessed at the borough average of $27,644. The hike ups total millage to 30.07, or $831 in yearly taxes for the owner of that average assessed property. Owners of real estate in the borough also pay property taxes in much larger amounts to the Pennsbury School District and Bucks County.
“A tax increase is never fun,” said council member Matt Curtin, who as chairman of the General Government Committee helped put the budget together. “I think in the future we need to do more projecting of finances, going two or three years into the future.”
At a previous meeting when the preliminary budget was approved, Curtin had said some of the factors necessitating the tax increase were a $46,000 increase in police salaries this year and some projects costing dramatically more than originally forecast. He added that Borough Manager Paula Johnson, council members and others worked very hard to reduce the increase down from 2 mills.
“This is a budget that is reasonable and balanced,” Curtin said at the Dec. 6 meeting.
Resident Earl Markey said he feels the borough is trending toward the enactment of an earned income tax. Yardley is one of the few Bucks County municipalities that does not have an EIT.
“If that (EIT) happens, people are not going to want to move here anymore,” he said. “We really need to tighten our belts,”
On the idea to form a committee to look at police expenses, council President Caroline Thompson advised Rabena and Celini to put their proposal in writing and email it to council members and other borough officials for consideration.
Rabena said police expenses have risen dramatically in the last several years and that police salaries, benefits and other costs make up a large majority of total borough expenses.
“From a financial perspective, you should look at this,” he said of possibly forming a committee. “It’s not about getting rid of police. It’s about ‘hey, maybe we can find savings here.’ It’s a financial exercise, and it would be free to the borough.”
Former council member Uri Feiner said quality police coverage like the kind provided by the borough force comes at a cost.
“Police costs have risen across the country,” he said. “We have a very professional police force.”
In other news from the Dec. 6 meeting, the council voted to award a contract of $282,180 to Premier Builders for elevation of a building at 46 Brown St. Council members delayed voting on bids for elevating structures at 81 N. Delaware Avenue and 45 S. Delaware Avenue until a future meeting. Money for these and other elevations is coming from a $2 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant the borough was awarded in April of 2021.
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