Dec 22, 2006 By Josh Krysak 2 min read

GEORGES TWP. – Several months of complaints from township residents directed toward supervisors regarding the 2007 budget came to a head Thursday as tempers flared and voices were raised at the Georges Township Municipal Building. And when the din finally died down, the supervisors adopted a final spending plan for the new year that held the tax rate steady but still infuriated several meeting goers.

“I don’t approve of this board of supervisors spending money like drunken sailors,” township resident Andrew Popovich railed against the supervisors. “You must reduce our taxes. We want our taxes lowered right now. We have had enough of this bull.”

The final $918,728.18 budget rose about $10,000 from the proposed budget passed in November but held the tax rate at 1.54 mills.

In March, the supervisors increased the tax rate from .810 mills to the current 1.54 mills, resulting in residents paying $15.40 for every $10,000 in assessed property value, a difference of $7.30 from the previous rate.

Popovich and several other residents including Milton Cunningham and Earl Moats complained about increases in wages and other increases in the plan they deem excessive.

But Supervisor Michael Bartock dismissed the men’s claims as “ludicrous.”

“You do not understanding what you are reading,” Bartock told Popovich. “We are getting cost of living raises, not $4,000 or $5,000 raises like you say.

The budget increased from 2006 figures in several likely categories including salaries and wages as well as insurance premiums, with the Teamsters pension fund more than doubling from the previous year.

The most expensive item on the budget is health insurance for the Teamsters costing the township $127,000, up from about $112,000 in 2006.

And new items on the budget include $20,000 for repair to the township maintenance building, more than $40,000 in new equipment costs and more than a $10,000 increase in money set aside for tool and equipment repair.