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The Logan Township supervisors Thursday approved a tentative budget calling for a 0.8 mill tax increase, which would add $122 to the annual bill for properties assessed at the median value of $153,000.
Total millage will rise to 2.64 mills, bringing the total annual bill for that median property to $405, according to township Finance Director Tiffany Noonan.
In preparing the budget, Noonan searched for "the biggest drivers" of the expenditure increase that, along with stagnant revenues, necessitates the tax increase and discovered that higher costs were everywhere, she said after the meeting.
The cost of fuels, petroleum-based products, piping, utilities, health and property insurance, equipment for the police and highway departments have all gone up, like the cost of everything has gone up for individuals and families, Noonan said. For the township, there are also unfunded mandates, especially for dealing with stormwater management through membership in the Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee, said Supervisor Joe Metzger and Chairman Jim Patterson.
On the revenue side, the township has been losing assessment appeals year-after-year, a phenomenon that shrank the Logan tax base by $6.7 million this year and by $8.3 million for 2022, according to Noonan and others.
"The last thing anyone on this board wants to do is to raise taxes," Metzgar said.
"(But) there's no way around it," said Supervisor Ed Frontino. "It is what it is."
The township tries to be frugal with purchases and to obtain grants, Patterson said.
In recent years, when confronted with operational deficits, the supervisors have drawn on the township's "rainy day fund" -- the unassigned fund balance -- to make ends meet, Patterson said.
But this year, that's not practical, because the rainy day fund has "dwindled somewhat" and because the township needs to maintain enough of a cushion to deal with emergencies, Patterson said.
The unassigned fund balance is projected to be $1.5 million at the end of this year, according to Noonan.
The supervisors last raised property taxes two years ago, increasing millage by 0.5, Noonan said.
All of that went to the general fund.
The proposed increase for 2024 will be divided among three funds, with 0.566 mills going to the general fund; 0.033 mills to the recreation fund; and 0.201 to the fire fund, according to Noonan.
The increases will generate a total of $859,000, bringing the township's property tax revenue to $2.8 million, Noonan said.
The total township budget is $41 million, with $7.4 million for the general fund. "Proprietary and fiduciary" funds for the fire service, sewer service and pensions make up the rest.
The overall property tax burden -- municipal, school and county -- for Logan residents is the third lowest in Blair County, after Tyrone Township and Snyder Township, neither of which operate police departments, as Logan does, said Supervisor Ron Heller.
Logan accounts for 20 percent of that total property burden, while Blair County accounts for 30 percent and the Altoona Area School District 50 percent, according to a chart prepared by Noonan.
The supervisors are scheduled to adopt the budget Dec. 14.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.