Ross Township Proposed 2013 Budget: Lower Tax Rate, Slight Increase in Spending

Ross Township's interim manager and finance director are proposing a 2013 budget that increases spending by $473,521, or .03-percent, but lowers the real estate millage rate from 3.0 to 2.7 mills.

"This is a .3 mill decrease from 2012 because of the increase in the new Allegheny County assessment values," said Deborah J. Grass, Interim Township Manager, and Roger A. Dunlap, Interim Finance Director, in their budget statement. "In the first year of a countywide reassessment, municipalities are capped by state law at 5-perecent of additional collection from the real estate taxes that were collected from the previous year." 

Grass and Dunlap said property reassessments have significantly changed the taxable value of many properties in the township.

"Taxable real property in the Township for 2013 has a total assessed valuation of $2,621,411,000. This is a significant increase over 2012 when the assessed value was reported as $1,994,947,735," said the budget statement. 

Also included in the budget is a proposed 10-percent increase in sewer fees to help offset the costs of complying with Alcosan's proposed $2.8 billion sewer improvement project which is designed to significantly reduce the 9 billion gallons a year of storm-caused sewage overflows into the region's creeks and rivers.

The commissioners will vote on the proposed budget at their next meeting on Dec. 17.

See the attached .pdf to read the entire Ross Township budget proposal.

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