Monday
September 16, 2024 
Lower Makefield Township officials will look at various ways in the coming months to address a structural budget deficit in the hopes of correcting it by next year, the board of supervisors and township Manager David Kratzer indicated at a recent board of supervisors meeting.
While the township is in a strong cash position with many millions of dollars from the sale of its sewer system, leftover money from a bond issue, its share of the American Rescue Plan Act and other sources, its expenses exceed revenue from regular reoccurring sources like property taxes by $1.7 million, Supervisors’ Chairman Fredric Weiss said.
Among the possible remedies listed on a board of supervisors agenda earlier this month included a home rule charter, special purpose real estate taxes, a local earned income tax and expense/service reductions. It’s likely a special meeting will be held fairly soon to discuss all the options, Weiss noted.
“Everything is on the table at this point,” he said. “This is the beginning of the conversation.”
Fellow board member Daniel Grenier said he’s looking forward to the conversation and working with the board and other officials to try to solve the problem.
“I voted against the last two budgets because I felt we were spending too much,” he said.
At the same meeting, the supervisors approved an investment policy statement to guide how $10 million in net proceeds from the sewer sale that has been placed in a trust under trustee PNC Financial Services Group will be invested. After paying off some major debts, the township has just under $23 million in net proceeds left from the $53 million sale of the system to Aqua Pennsylvania.
The supervisors might eventually decide to add to the $10 million in the trust but are holding off until it’s known for what the remaining net proceeds might be needed.
The basic investment policy statement for the trust reads, in part: “It is the intention of the board of supervisors that the investment committee of the organization ensure that the fund will be managed in accordance with sound investment practices that emphasize long-term investment fundamentals, while simultaneously meeting the objectives set forth in this investment policy statement.
“The investment committee is charged with oversight of the management of the fund in a manner which builds upon the existing assets and furthers growth of the organization without exposing the assets to excessive risk. The primary objective of the investment committee should be the preservation of principal with secondary goals of growth and income.”
Supervisor John Lewis characterized the investment policy as one of “moderate risk. It’s less than what I would take in my personal investments.”
In one other action, the supervisors are considering whether to engage the services of a community engagement and analytics tool called Zencity at an annual cost of $26,000. Township Manager David Kratzer briefed board members on the service and said he found it worked well in Susquehanna Township, where he previously served as manager.
“The tool provides a comprehensive mechanism to fully capture community conversation beyond the typical vocal minority that participates in traditional or official channels,” Kratzer explained in an email to the Herald. “In addition to capturing the conversations that are organically taking place on publicly available sources (I.e., social media channels, media chat forums, etc.), Zencity provides a mechanism to create interactive digital spaces for community engagement/conversation and survey/benchmarking/performance measurement capabilities.”
Among those that use the tool are Philadelphia and Delaware County, Kratzer added.
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