Wharton budget would increase EMS tax
Wharton Township’s proposed 2012 budget includes an Emergency Municipal Services (EMS) tax increase, but holds the line on other taxes.
Township supervisors approved the tentative $2.37 million budget last week and are expected to consider final adoption at their meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
The budget would increase the EMS tax from $5 to $47 a year. The tax would be assessed only on residents earning $12,000 or more a year. At $47, the tax is projected to generate $12,000. The $5 tax generated $8,500 this year.
The real estate tax would remain at .347 mills and the earned income tax, which is the township’s largest revenue source, would remain at .5 percent.
Earned income taxes are projected to generate $303,200 in revenue, property taxes are projected to generate $75,137 in revenue and the 5-percent amusement tax is projected to generate $145,000 in revenue, according to the tentative budget. Revenue from all taxes is budgeted at $592,998.
Those figures are identical to those in this year’s budget except for the EMS tax. Total revenue is projected at $917,088, which is slightly more than the $906,076 estimated in this year’s budget.
Next year’s expenditures are budgeted at $1.18 million, which is slightly less than the $1.21 million estimated in this year’s budget. An increase in spending on engineering from $4,500 last year to $21,579 and a small increases in spending on roads are offset by cuts in spending on insurances and planning and zoning.
In the tentative budget, the general fund is $709,776, the highway aid fund is $209,100, the real estate transfer fund is $263,079, the park fund is $5,500 and the police pension fund is $1,720.
In other business, the supervisors approved a conditional-use permit for the National Pike Water Authority of Markleysburg to build a pump station for a proposed water line extension to the Chalk Hill area. The pump station would be built along Route 40 east in the area across the street from the Stone House Restaurant.