The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A $73.2 million proposed budget that includes a 2.63 percent hike in the local portion of property taxes was introduced April 8 by the Township Council.
The proposed spending plan is powered by a tax levy of $38,993,310 – not including the $5,069,958 library tax – up $1 million from the 2024 figure.
The tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation was set at .23 cents. That translates to an annual municipal portion tax bill of $1,299.83 on a residential property assessed at $555,485, the township average.
That local property tax is up $83.22 from the 2024 figure of $1,216.61.
In his budget presentation, Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said the most significant budget increases, totaling $4.23 million, were in “statutory expenditures, insurance, software licensing, and salary expenses, many of which are mandated budget requirements.”
“There is an increase in health insurance costs of about $1.39 million, which is a 15.19 percent increase, which was somewhat offset by increased employee contributions,” Vornlocker said. “An increase in liability and workers’ compensation insurance of $131,496, which is a low 9.63 percent increase.”
“An increase in pension and Social Security tax of just over $139,000, or a 1.81 percent increase.,” he said. “An increase in debt service of just over $1.2 million, or a 35.4 percent increase. An increase in the library tax of over $283,000, or a 5.93 percent increase. An increase in utility costs of $280,000, or a 10.39 percent increase. An increase in software licensing of $201,000, well almost $202,000, a 41.16 percent increase. An increase in salary and wage expenses of almost $600,000, 2.23 percent.”
“I just note that that 2.23 percent of the general fund budget is less than the current inflation rate of 2.8 percent as of February of 2025,” Vornlocker said.
Several Township departments were able to reduce their budgets, somewhat offsetting the increases, he said.
“The total of these budgets is $305,566 in reductions, and they are the HR Department; Tax Collector, Assessor, Fire Prevention, Recreation and Youth Center combined, the Mayor and Council budget, the Audit Services budget, the Legal budget, and the Salary and Wage Overtime budgets in total were reduced by just over $305,000.” he said.
Vornlocker said using $11.9 million of the Township’s surplus helped limit the tax increase.
“Through all of this, the Township still plans to continue with infrastructure improvements by bonding,” he said. “Road surfacing is planned at $4 million, an additional $1.2 million is planned for road-related projects.”
“Mr. Vornlocker and the staff have done herculean tasks in order to get this budget number down, or the amount to be raised by taxes down,” Mayor Phil Kramer said.
“The increase in health insurance alone was incredibly high,” he said. “They’ve managed to handle that relatively well, very well. As you heard, a number of the departments cut their budgets in a time of inflation, so I really commend you and your staff for doing that.”
“I’d also like to state, as I have many times, property taxes are a stupid way to raise income,” the Mayor said. “It’s someone who is house rich, but income poor, or cash flow poor, puts them in a terrible bind when assessments go up. People should pay taxes by their ability to pay, not by the land that they hold, or that they maybe inherited, but it would take a state constitutional amendment in order to change that, so it’s certainly not within our power.”
Kramer said that the tax levy comprised about $37 of the average tax bill increase of $83, with the remaining approximately $46 attributed to increased property assessments.
Vornlocker said earlier that township assessments increased from $14,887,830,900 to $16,697,499,400, a 12.2 percent increase.
A public hearing on the proposed budget is set for 7 p.m. May 13 in the Council chamber on DeMott Lane.
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