At the December 10, 2025 Board of Supervisor (BOS) meeting, the Board further discussed and approved a resolution to increase the Fire Hydrant Tax from .11mils to .15mils. At the November 27, 2024 BOS alternate meeting, staff explained that the Fire Hydrant Tax is separate from the General Fund as it is a Special Tax that goes into its own fund to pay the York Water Company for water to the Fire Hydrants. Not everyone pays this tax. Only those within 780 ft of a Fire Hydrant. Last time local millage has been changed was in 2014. It decreased from .15mils to .11mils because the Township reached a large sized fund that could help supply years’ worth of the bills while set at a lower tax rate. For 10yrs the fund has been maintained by that past surplus and the interest from PLIGIT. In 2024 the Township will have a deficiency in the Fire Hydrant Fund by between $8k and $13,151, which was unexpected. From 2014 to 2022, the York Water Bills have been between $60k and under $70k; in 2023 the total bills were approximately $71,103; and now in 2024 the bills jumped to $87,445. Staff investigated other millage rates to see what would make more sense. Therefore, total assessments (property assessments within 780ft of hydrants in the Township) as of January 2024 are $671,090,727. Statistics show that the very large majority of taxes get paid at discount so below shows you what that looks like if paid at 2% discount.
o .11mils = .00011 x $671,090,727 = $73,819; Discount: $72,342 (current rate)
o .12mils = .00012 x $671,090,727 = $80,530; Discount: $78,919
o .13mils = .00013 x $671,090,727 = $87,241; Discount: $85,496
o .14mils = .00014 x $671,090,727 = $93,952; Discount: $92,072
o .15mils = .00015 x $671,090,727 = $100,663; Discount: $98,649 (approved rate)
Staff’s conclusion is since the bills to York Water stayed within the $60k range from 2014-2022 and then went to the $70k range in 2023, and the jumped significantly to $87.5k in 2024, staff recommended setting the rate to .15mils to get the funds gathered for the unpredictable bill increases. If the Board went with .14mils the township will likely see around the discount price of taxes paid and that is just $5k more than what 2024’s bills ended up being. Additionally, at .14 mils, it would take a some time to cover the 2024 deficit, and the millage would likely need to increase sooner, therefore, .15 mils is justifiable. To give an idea of the cost increase, an example is if a property is assessed at $250k, currently the Fire Hydrant Tax is $27.50. At .15mils, the tax increase by $10 to $37.50.