The local earned income tax rate that residents of Wrightstown pay could decline in 2024.
The three-person Wrightstown Board of Supervisors, which locally governs the municipality, is considering reducing the rate for next year as part of its township budget development process.
The move isn’t a given but if it were to occur the rate would likely drop from 1.15% to 1%.
The reason that rate decline could happen is because Wrightstown retired its open space loan repayments in 2023, said Supervisor Chairman Chester Pogonowski.
Of the EIT rate, 0.15% was earmarked for open space preservation – essentially paying back debt taken on to fund the protection of land against development. That 0.15% open space tax on a resident’s earned income is no longer needed given that the township is done paying that debt.
Even with the change, 0.5% of the total EIT will still go to the township and 0.5% to the Council Rock School District.
The township also levies a 0.5 millage rate tax on properties to help pay for open space preservation. It’s possible this could be reallocated to help purchase a new dump truck, which the township needs, in 2024. “However,” Pogonowski said, “no decisions have been made at this point.”
A mill is equal to $1 of every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
Supervisors and municipal professionals, led by Township Manager Stacey Mulholland, are still developing the 2024 budget in which the millage rate and EIT will be established.
“There are a lot of items still in flux,” Pogonowski noted, adding that the township is eyeing a few potential purchases and/or projects for next year beyond the dump truck. Those include improving backup power connections at the municipal building, replacing the roof at the historic Octagonal School, and completing repairs on Cedar Lane, as well as various repaving projects.
Supervisors expect to have a preliminary budget to review on Nov. 13. They could take a final vote on approving the 2024 municipal budget, which funds things like police coverage, public works and township administration, in early December. A vote would occur at a public meeting in which residents could comment and ask questions.
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