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The Abington Citizens Network
where Abington, PA residents can share ideas and join forces to build a better community

 

Taxes 

  Please double check all things before accepting anything as fact

10-13 See the Budget page for a link to the actual October proposed 2014 working budget  and a discussion about Stormwater Fees and taxes  that is contained therein .  To add to the myth (see below) of 19 years with no taxes, they have decided to add a stormwater fee rather than to increase the taxes to cover the duties of the Engineer, Mike Powers , to do the proper stormwater work .  More smoke and mirrors .  It is his job to manage stormwater.  Instituting a whole separate program and and another fee to collect is far costlier . And there is really NO WAY to fairly distribute this fee  to those who cause more runoff . Powers plan currently proposes (presented in parts at Oct 3 & 10th & 24th meetings ) to tax R1 perhaps 40 dollars and R4  only ten.  But any given r4 property might be all concrete with no trees while another may have swails , rain gardents and lits of trees .  It is silly.  A simple tax to reflect what the engineering costs would be no less fair and far easier for all.

Because the fund balance is so high they are not looking like they will impose a tax increase.

2013  We still cannot get a clear view of the tax collector's office and the real "in and out" of the taxes

11-10  Ordinance 1994 - really just another fee . (inspections before sale )  On Dec 9, 2010, the Commissioners will hold a hearing for  Ordinance 1994. Originally  this ordinance was to require an inspection of many items before the sale of the house could take place. The seller had to bring his house  before selling . This, of course, is somewhat ludicrous since he might have been allowed to live for years and years and years in the Township without bringing his house up to code. If having it to code it is important, then it shouldn't just be for someone leaving the Township.Under great protest, the Township staff relented and rewrote the ordinance so that only smoke detectors , carbon monoxide detectors and house numbers had to be in compliance , but a $50 fee had to be paid  to obtain a certificate of occupancy after these were inspected. This of course is also ludicrous,  if you can obtain a certificate of occupancy with just these two or three things, then the certificate itself has very little meaning.  In addition, home inspections generally  would note, or should note, these items and they have always been the responsibility of the buyer and seller to work out. There is no need for the Township to further intrude, other than to collect a fee. And since even homeowners who are in compliance already would have to obtain this certificate of occupancy, then it is a particularly onerous tax on people who are correctly obeying the law and being good citizens.  It is time to stop the senseless taxes and fees-- read more about this ordinance here

2010  The Myth of 19 years with no increase......  Despite the Commissioners touting in 2009 ( and many years prior) that they had held the line on property taxes for 19 years - that is hardly the truth. Rather than raising taxes, they removed services,  instituted additional taxes with new names and converted some covered services to fees.  An accurate picture  is nearly impossible to obtain, because they only give one small piece of it at a time. But believe me, my taxes, fees and costs have gone up virtually every year with maybe a couple of exceptions over the past 2 decades. 

8-09   Do Abington taxpayers  deserve to have an accurate picture of the tax office ?????  I have been trying to do that since Fall 08 and have been  given the royal run -around . In a township that has at least twice had tax office irregularities and even a tax collector that earned a prison term, I find this inexcusable.    I cannot get a straight answer out of anyone with a  single figure for the complete cost of collecting all our taxes & the percentages collected - not from my  Commissioner, tax collector, nor township manager .  One figure. One I think they should know & would compare & manage as new candidates came to the job . As these candidates are elected, the parties that are endorsing them should also be privy to this information and know how their candidates planned to stream-line the office. 
     I was directed originally to the budget, from which the answer is not readily discernable. I am now being directed, after months of partial answers, to the audit report - who knows how many pages at 25 cents a page . Will the answer even be there?
I was more interested in knowing that my Commissioner & manager KNEW it ---- that there was some oversight going on with our funds.  If they do know it and are refusing to divulge it, shame on them . And residents and media personnel ----- will this not be a feature of the squaring off of the candidates.......
Click here to see what we've got so far.......

6-09 TAX  ABATEMENTS -  currently under discussion is whether to give 10-year tax abatements on commercial properties throughout the townships in special areas that or blighted or otherwise meet
LERTA  program guidelines. Click to see the details- as this is a larger issue

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1-08   The LST TAX  -  Effective January 1, 2008, Abington Township has levied an annual Local Services Tax, which replaces the former Occupational Privilege Tax of Ten Dollars ($10.00).   The tax is assessed upon those who engage in an occupation with a primary place of employment within the Township of Abington.  The Local Services Tax is an annual amount of no more than Fifty-Two Dollars ($52.00) assessed on a pro rata basis in accordance with Abington Township Ordinance 1954.  The full text of the Ordinance and appropriate forms are available on the Township's website.    Link: Ordinance 1954  .   While the new LST  tax is levied on all businesses in Abington , certain businesses have already been  given tax breaks  by way of tax abatements.  In a policy that allows a loose determination of what is and isn't blighted, certain properties are being designated blighted (even when you prior attempts have been made to get owners to improve them ) and these properties were offered 5 year tax abatements ( future tax abatements considered were for 10 years - and the 5 year plans were extended . )  This allows certain developers, even wealthy ones who may not be financially strapped, to receive assistance from residents or other businesses that might be strapped.  So while some may leave because of tax burdens, others will find themselves in an unfair & uneven system of taxation

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12-07-THE FUND BALANCE As discussions circulated about the addition of the LST tax during the budget period at the end of 2007, this writer was unaware of the millions of dollars in excess that was held in the fund balance. We were also unaware when we were trying to get the channel up and running  to air iportant meetings and were told there was no money for it.
    Each year 10-12 million is available in unbudgeted funds. Approximately 2.5 million is required to be kept there as a buffer and an additional  1.5 million or so is needed for accounting expenses ( not sure why these aren't in the budget..? )  But some thought or question should go into WHY we are taxing additionally when so much is unbudgeted.  These unbudgeted funds allow Commissioners the freedom, outside of the normal budget process, to approve projects that they find compelling. But if these projects were inside the budget process, they might get the ax - if residents were voting - in favor of flood control measures or other important  projects that lie waiting for funds.
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    Please feel free to send your  information to us  and please be sure to  tell us about any information you believe to be incorrect - write  lel@abingtoncitizens.com

 

 


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Abington Township, with John Spiegelman in charge, revamped the entire Township website at the end of 2015 and broke all the links to the information we had archived on this site for you.   In 2017, Manager Richard Manfredi arrived and assigned someone not qualified to redo the entire website again. They not only broke all archived links we had reinstated, but made everything as impossible to find as they could. Nearly all of our comments and recommedations to fix the Township website have been wholly ignored.

So we do need volunteers to work together helping the Township create a site that is functional and accessible.  We will be reinstating links as we find them....if the data is still available. So... please let us know if you find a broken link. Send us the URL of the link  and the name of the page it is on, and if we can, we'll reinstate it.
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