Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to this meeting of the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors. Would everybody please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. Miss Grub, would you please call RO? Mr. Kisak, here. Miss Hannah, she's she's uh listening in. Sorry. Miss Kaine here.

Also in attendance tonight is township manager Eden Eden Radcliffe. Um township I'm sorry, assistant township manager Nick Vala and various department heads. Thank you, M.

Mr. Kzak, I just want to note uh in line with what Miss Corporal said that Miss Hannah is listening into the meeting and she's actively texting staff her responses to the questions that are asked if that's acceptable. And so she did note that she is here. Great. Thank you. Okay. We have a few uh upcoming meetings and events. The first is our next board of supervisors meeting will be Monday, December 15th uh 2025 at 7 p.m. here in the public hall. Uh we also have our shop with a cop event. Um that's an annual event. We do it every year. This year it's going to be Saturday, December 6th at the uh Target in Oxford Valley. Um I think probably everybody knows, but for those that don't know, Shop with a Cop is a fantastic event where uh children in need get to go shopping with uh one of our police officers and it's an opportunity for the community to really great give a great holiday season uh to some local children. So if you can please come out and support the shop with a cop event. Again, that's Saturday, December 6th. And then we also have our annual holiday open house. This is a fantastic event. We do it every year. Uh great family community event. That's going to be Thursday, December 11th, 2025. That is from 5:30 to 7:30. And that is here at the Middletown Township Municipal Center. Um next under special items, the first uh and uh great item we have tonight is the swearing in of two new police officers, uh Tyler McNich and Antonio Fields, Chief. Good evening, Mr. Kisak. Fellow board members, I'm going to first invite Tyler McNevich to come on up. And John, you can come on up, too. Tyler McNevich was born and raised in Middletown Township. He attended Our Lady of Grace for elementary school and Holy Ghost Prep for high school. In

2019, he graduated from Dukane University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. After college, Tyler enlisted in the US Army as a signals intelligence language analyst. During his service, he earned his associates degree in Korean language from the Defense Language Institute and spent two and a half years deployed overseas in South Korea and Poland. While in the army, he attained the rank of sergeant and led a multinational team in 247 intelligence monitoring operations. After returning stateside in 2025, Tyler joined our police department. He is currently attending the Temple University Police Academy. Tyler is proudly following in the footsteps of his father, John, who recently retired from our department as a lieutenant after a distinguished 35-y year career. So, with that, I'm going to invite Tyler uh onto the deis with his father, John, to uh hold the Bible for him. Go ahead, Tyler. Got that. Get this down.

All right. You're just going to repeat after me. Okay. All right. I state your name. I, Tyler Mcnevich, solemnly swear solemnly swear to support, obey, and defend to support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the ordinances of Middletown Township and the ordinances of Middletown Township with duty, honor, and fidelity. With duty, honor, and fidelity as a Middletown Township Police Officer as a Middletown Township Police Officer. Congratulations. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

Okay, next. Antonio Fields. Antonio, come on up with a family member to hold the Bible for you. Got to keep the mic strategically placed here at some a little bit. So, okay. Antonio Fields is a graduate of Truman High School in Bristol Township where he was a dedicated student athlete participating in wrestling, track, and football. He went on to earn his associates degree in criminal justice from Bucks County Community College. Antonio was happily married and the proud father of one son. Outside of his academic and professional pursuits, he is an accomplished martial artist, holding a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and having completed or competed, I'm sorry, in amateur MMA and boxing. He is grateful for the opportunity to begin his service with the Middletown Township community and looks forward to contributing to the safety and well-being of our residents. Same with daddy Antonio. I'll ask you to step up on the deis. You sworn in. Repeat after me. I state your name. I, Antonio Fields,

solemnly swear solemnly swear to support, obey, and defend to support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. and the ordinances of Middletown Township and the ordinances of Middletown Township. With duty, honor, and fidelity. With duty, honor, and fidelity. As a Middletown Township Police Officer as a Middletown Township Police Officer. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

Good. That's good. Thank you, Mr. Keyzac. Did um Yeah. Hey, you know what, Tyler and Antonio, you want to go up take a photo with the board and our township manager? Thank you.

Nick, you getting in there? No. Okay. [applause] [applause] Thank you, Chief, and congratulations again. And welcome to our two new officers. Um, for folks that came here to be here with their family members who were just sworn in, um, you're you're free to leave. You don't have to stick around for the rest of the meeting. You're certainly welcome to, but, uh, we aren't going to keep you here. Um, okay. Uh, next on the agenda, we have two, uh, proclamations. Uh, the first one, uh, I'll turn over to, uh, Miss Corpal.

Thank you, Mr. Kac. Tonight, we have a proclamation recognizing Native American Heritage Month in Middletown Township. Whereas every November, na national Native American Heritage Month is celebrated to honor the remarkable Native Americans who have contributed to the character, culture, and history of the nation. This month is also referred to as the American Indian and Alaskan Native Heritage Month. Native American Heritage Month honors and celebrates the perseverance, rich diversity, and excellence of all Native Americans. And whereas N National Native American Heritage Month is time to rejoice in diverse and rich cultures, histories, and traditions, and to appreciate the great contributions of the Native Americans. This month allows us to spread awareness about tribes and educate people about the various challenges faced by the Native Americans in the past and today. And whereas n national native American heritage month began as an effort to have a day of appreciation and acknowledgement for the unique contributions made by the first Americans for the growth and establishment of the United States. And the effort has now resulted in a whole month being celebrated for the purpose and whereas Middletown Township encourages everyone to learn more about the people who first called them the nation home. in this spirit of growth, healing, and hope for a better future. And now, therefore, here it be resolved by the board of supervisors of Middletown Township that November be proclaimed as National Native American Heritage Month.

Thank you, Miss Corpal. And now we have a second proclamation. And Miss Kane is going to read that

proclamation for Small Business Saturday and Middletown Township. Whereas the township of Middletown celebrates our local small businesses and the contributions they make to our local economy and community. And whereas according to the US Small Business Administration, there are 33 million small businesses in the United States, small business represents 99.7% of firms with paid employees. Small businesses are responsible for 62.7% of net new jobs created since 1995. And small businesses employed 46.4 4% of the employees in the private sector in the United States. And whereas Middletown Township supports our local businesses that create jobs, boost our local economy, and preserve our communities. And whereas advocacy groups as well as public and private organizations across the country have endorsed the Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of supervisors of Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that November 17th, 2025 be designated as Small Business Saturday. The board urges the residents of our community and communities across the country to support small businesses and merchants on Small Business Saturday and throughout the year.

Thank you, Miss Kane. Um, okay, that takes us to public comment on non-aggenda items. Is there any public comment on non-aggenda items? Yep. Come on up. Good evening. Uh Sheldon Post, Red Rose Gate. Um couple things totally unrelated to one another that I'd like to address tonight. And I'd like to start with a thank you to Mr. Ratliff for uh promptly answering an email that I sent today looking for an agenda. Uh he was very quick to respond and and supply one for me. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Um

write that down. It doesn't always happen. You're [laughter] welcome. Okay. Uh well, the first thing uh I guess this would come under the category of I guess a criticism in a sense. Um just looking back at a couple of building projects that had been approved in the past. Uh one of them being the two behemoth warehouses on the Reedman property that as far as I know as of today still sit totally empty and the other being Atley Square at Yxer Valley Mall. Um, as far as the and I know that numerous times people have come here uh to the microphone and have spoken about uh thing, you know, projects such as that and oftentimes we're told that, you know, pretty much at this point we're a little bit too late um that we should be appearing at zoning board hearings and planning commission meetings and things of that type. Uh, and I understand that. Um, but for these two in particular, I just uh one thing with the warehouses, uh, my hope and, uh, I guess hopefully understanding is at least I hope we're getting some tax revenue out of those empty buildings while they're sitting there. I don't know if that's the case or not, but I hope we are. Um, on the bright side of that particular project though, there were not one but two traffic uh, experts who spoke uh, I don't know how far back that was. has been quite a while ago but spoke at this meeting u telling us that the traffic impact would be minimal or non-existent and on the bright side I guess that's true so far because there's not a single car or vehicle that's coming or going from those places uh I suppose that's going to change at some point um the other thing that kind of sticks in my head a little bit is I just read recently that Atley Square is getting ready to begin phase two of their project at the Oxford Valley Mall which would include another couple hundred units. Uh but at the same time, it said

that only 60% of the 300 plus units already there are occupied. Um it seems a little unusual to me that we are approving certain projects like this without really knowing who's coming in or or how many people might be involved and things like that. So I I hope with a new year coming up and before too much longer that maybe we can scrutinize things like that a little bit more uh before they get to the point of final approval. Here on a totally unreaded note uh I've tried to make it a point over the last three or four years to come in at this time of year to speak on behalf of the Middletown Township Youth Aid Panel. Um the panel is uh in full operation. We meet once a month. Uh we are kept well supplied with candidates from our police department and uh we appreciate their support of that particular program. Uh I always like to thank a couple of individuals or a few individuals in particular for their help with us. Uh one of them would be Andy Foley at the Pendel Middletown Rescue Squad. Andy has helped us out numerous times by allowing us to have uh some of our youth appear there for community service hours and helping them out with things that they need done. Uh in that same vein with community service um here at the township, our own Paul Copera has been a godsend to us with supplying us with hours and time and a lot of it I know is his time, his own time. Uh I also know that Paul's going to be moving into uh I guess another phase of his life in the near future and so we're going to lose that avenue. Um but we do very much appreciate Paul's efforts. Uh and and his witism which he uh he tends to do when he emails us with certain things. Um and uh I I want to definitely mention

officer Missy Robinson who is our liaison to the department. Uh Missy gives us just expert advice and opinions and information and things like that when we have our meetings. So we really appreciate that and the support of the chief and the department as a whole just in keeping the program running. Uh one of our biggest challenges is community service time. Uh not many people are willing to supervise youths in this uh particular aspect. Uh I do want to just throw out to the general listening public if there are organizations out there who could use some help on occasion, three or four hours here and there uh for things that they need done and they're willing to supervise our use. Uh we certainly would be willing to speak with them about that and uh they can contact the panel at middletown youthgmail.com. uh I would be more than happy myself to meet with an individual, tell them about the program and tell them what their responsibilities would be if they were willing to supply us with community service time. So, uh I thank you for the opportunity to speak and um you know hope that u things go well and I know we have two new faces coming on board before long. So, um I just wish everyone well in the upcoming new year and holiday season. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Poston. I I will also at this time just thank you for your dedication to the youth aid panel. Um it's a it's a really important organization um that um does tremendous work in hopefully deterring juveniles from continuing with um criminal behavior and um we couldn't do it without members of the public like yourself and all the time and dedication that you've uh you've put forth. So thank you for everything you've done for that organization. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Any other public comment on non-aggenda items? Yes.

Good evening, board. Uh Lance Seg, uh 98 Queen Lily. Um, first thing I want to talk about, at the last board meeting, we had a back and forth in regards to the Knights of Columbus property and um, I think you were pretty adamant that it would be illegal to limit um, any Habitat for Humanity houses to Middletown Township um, which essentially would benefit the citizens. We're going to get more highdensity housing jammed down our throats. We might as well let the affordable housing go to Middletown residents. Um, you were adamant it was illegal um, to do that. Mr. Murphy was adamant. Um, I was not necessarily prepared. I'm assuming you guys are talking about the Fair Housing Act, which says you can't discriminate based on a number of things. Um, so I went and did some research and there's not one bit of case law at all that says that it's illegal. spoke to multiple attorneys and they said maybe it would be illegal if you limited it to a you know a small geographic area like a couple of neighborhoods or something which thereby would probably cause some issues because if you're limiting it to that small you might be discriminating against a group because of those neighborhoods may may not be diverse enough. Um but when you're looking at a whole township um may not necessarily be illegal. Um, and the reason I bring it up is it's just to me another example of not fighting for the citizens, the citizens of Middletown when the vast majority of the people I talk to are tired of the building. And if we are going to build, why is it not beneficial for us? We're the taxpayers. We're the people that live here. Um, so I just wanted to point that up. I know you will have a disagreement. Say, I interpret the law differently. Um but there is nothing in the case law that indicates that was illegal and that's what I was told. Um secondly um put in a couple of right to no requests. Um partly because of um when I

was looking at the Pendell fire agreement back in 2012. Um the fire agreement talks about um the fire company shall cooperate with the township to complete an annual audit. Um so I didn't put in a request to specifically like what was in the audits. I want everything. I just wanted dates because I'm assuming every fire department has that language in their contract. U what are the dates of the audits for every fire service um in this county and my request was denied because the records don't exist. So if the records don't exist then to me there has been no audit of any of the fire services um of their budgets since 2012 at least. Okay. Um so when we are asking taxpayers um and I know Mr. Bruno was here the one night when you guys bought out the fire truck. Um, we certainly had some issues with it looking like we were bailing out one particular department. And then when I look at contracts that say there should be an audit done and the audits aren't done. This doesn't have a reflection on Mr. Ratliff. He wasn't here. Okay. I'm assuming that function was on his predecessor to do these audits. Um, I would hope because I don't believe we operate like that with parks and wreck here with our police department as I see them come in and present things that um, they need to have and I spoke about it at the last meeting. If we are going to be charging taxpayers the amount of money that we're talking about um, for an essential service that is certainly needed. Um, the fire department is an essential service and and I respect the heck out of them, but we're still charging taxpayers a lot of money. Um, so that money needs to be accounted for. Um, and it doesn't look like it's ever been accounted for to be honest with you.

Can I join your comments here for just a second? Yep.

Uh, the provisions of those contracts, as you correctly state, say that the township has the right to audit, meaning the township would go in or have a third party on its behalf go in and audit those fire departments. and the township has not exercised that right of the contract. However, my understanding of all four volunteer companies is that they have had an outside auditor audit their own finances, the majority of which is not taxpayer dollars. Um, so I I just want to sort of defend those fire companies to say that I think there's reasonable um reason for us to believe that they're doing the necessary things to audit their own finances and to have internal controls around that. Um, but to your point, the township has not gone in to do that specifically. Um, in addition, a large portion of funding that we provide them is um, state aid funding. Um, it's called fire relief funding is what that is and that gets audited by the attorney general's office. So, that does happen and the board does see that report. So, I just want to add a little bit of color to your comments.

Right. And I appreciate that. I I'm just I know some of the funding comes from us cuz we have truck funds and things like that and that's to to not have anything for I mean that contract was signed in 2012. It's bit irresponsible. That's all. Right. Thank you. Any other public comment on non-aggenda items? All right. Seeing none, uh we will move into the consent agenda items. And those are as follows. Item A, consideration of authorizing payment of November 17th, 2025 bills list in the amount of $6,824,281.74. B, consideration of approving the October 6, 2025 minutes of the public meeting. uh the October 13th, 2025 minutes of the budget workshop meeting and the October 20th, 2025 minutes of the bud uh the budget workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors. See, consideration of authorizing the purchase of one 2026 F550 chassis 4x4 SD regular cab 169in WBDRWXL F5H aerial lift bucket truck for a total of 171,177. D. Consideration of authorizing resolutions number 25-24R and 25-25R. Authorizing applications to the local share account grant program. E. Consideration of authorizing financial security release number one final for 517 Deer Drive subdivision and land development in the amount of $88,580.25. F. Consideration of authorizing 2025 Middletown Township Liquid Fuels Program payment certificate number one in the amount of $256,19.40. G. Consideration of authorizing 2025 Middletown Township liquid fuels road program change order number one in the net amount of agative $1.40 for adjusted quantities. H consideration of authorizing the storm water piping uh pipelining project payment certificate number one in the amount of $24,825. I consideration of authorizing Middletown storm water pipelining project change order number two in the

net amount of $270 for adjusted quantities. and J consideration of authorizing Langghorn Gables drainage improvements phase 2 payment certificate number one in the amount of $374,17944. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda items as read. Thank you, Miss Corpal. Is there a second? Second. It's been a motion and a second. Any board questions? Any questions from the public? Seeing none. All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Sorry. opposed. Miss Hannah says I.

Thanks. Carries 40. Uh, next on the agenda is discussion of the sign ordinance amendment. We're actually going to table uh that agenda item uh for um further investigation that'll likely appear on a later uh agenda. Which moves us to agenda item number eight, which is uh storm water advisory committee updates. The first is consideration of authorizing the advertisement of an amendment to the storm water impact fee ordinance. Mr. Val.

Yes. Good evening, supervisors. Um, first I just want to share a brief update from the stormwater advisory committee which was established by the board earlier this summer. Uh, they've met a handful of times about once a month uh since the summer. They've been doing an absolutely incredible job um dealing with a number of um appeals and different concerns that have been um raised from the community and property owners as it relates to the administration of the stormwater impact fee. Um before you are two items that they have been working on, but I did want to give them a quick shout out for the excellent work they've been doing. one of the hardest groups of uh and most qualified groups of residents I've ever had a pleasure working with. Um and I will also uh briefly mention that their next meeting is in this room two days from now on Wednesday. So for anybody who's interested uh they will be here and you can see them in action. Um so the first item from the committee is uh specifically um a very targeted amendment to the ordinance. Um so we heard from a handful of uh homeowners association properties in the township. Um the way that the fee is structured in the present ordinance is any uh property that doesn't have a single family residence on it, which is a house, condo, uh townhouse, anything that doesn't fit in that definition is automatically considered not that essentially is how our ordinance is written. Uh which means it's assessed a fee based upon its impervious area. And so there's a small number of uh homeowners associations that have private streets or sidewalks uh that were part of that calculation and therefore received a bill. Um because the township does pay a fee for its structures but not a fee for roads and sidewalk networks that the township owns. Um the committee really wrestled with this at their most recent meeting and they're making a recommendation to the board uh to make an amendment to the ordinance uh specifically to carve out uh streets, sidewalks, and residential parking areas from the calculation of the fees specifically for properties owned by a homeowners association. Um, and I will caveat that for uh the small number of HOAs that have um amenities

such as like a clubhouse or um tennis courts and parking associated specifically with those amenities, those would remain part of the calculation. And so it's a very kind of a fine line that they're drawing there. Um but in order to actually effectuate that change, uh it would have to come in the form of an ordinance amendment. Um, and so if you choose to act on that tonight, you would be advertising the ordinance tonight and then uh enacting that ordinance at a later meeting, most likely in December. And if that is acted upon, uh, we would make sure that all measures are taken to, uh, make sure either the HOAs are refunded if they've already paid the fee, or that they receive either rescended or modified bills accordingly.

Any questions for Mr. Valor? So obviously this is going to reduce revenue that is generated by the storm water fee. Um I mean h how is that going to impact you know the the the planning or the projects that we've contemplated so far? Sure. Um the amount that we're talking about for these properties is relatively immaterial. It's about $25,000 versus the whole um fee generates um if everybody pays it, it's in about $1.8 million category. Um, our revenue projections are closer to like 1.6 million. We'll talk about that a little bit more as we get into the budget presentation. Um, but in the grand scheme, you know, I would say it's immaterial.

Okay. Any other questions for Mr. Valor. All right. Well, I I think um this makes sense and um I agree our storm water advisory committee is um is hardworking and thoughtful and um I am aware that they um considered this thoroughly uh before making the recommendation and so um I'm inclined to accept the recommendation. So, I will move to authorize the township uh township solicitor to draft and advertise an ordinance to amend chapter 428 of the Middletown Township Code of Ordinances to eliminate street sidewalks and residential parking areas from the calculation of impervious surface uh area for properties owned by a homeowners association. Is there a second? Second.

All right, we just been a motion and a second. Any board questions? Any questions from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Miss Hannah says I opposed carries 40. Thank you, Mr. Vala. And I believe you have the next one as well. Uh which is consideration of resolution number 25-26R adopting a stormwater impact fee credit policy.

Yes. Uh probably one of the most important tasks that the stormwater committee uh was first charged with was to develop um and recommend a stormwater credit policy which is before you tonight. Um, act 62 of 2016 is the state law that allows a secondass township like Middletown to have a stormwater impact fee. That law specifically requires us to have some form of credit policy or means of providing property owners who have uh the the official term is a best management practice or a BMP um at their property um and providing them some sort of um remediation or in this case credit um to pay a lesser fee because they're theoretically creating a lesser impact. Um the committee spent several meetings talking about this. I'm going to post it up on the screen if it works for me. Um, and before you is an actual manual. It's about a 12-page document that they prepared. Uh, the document showing on the screen is a summary of the actual fee. So, there's two tiers, as I just talked about, there's a residential and a non-residential. So, the non-residential is when it comes to a credit policy is kind of the main focus. So, for BMPPS, uh, they can be for rate. So, how much water they're treating um, and volume uh, similar to that, as well as the actual water quality. Depending on how effective each of those is, the property can obtain a five, 10, or 15% credit. Um, as well as a credit for having an an NPDES, some folks call it a nipes permit, apparently I've learned. Um, as well as an MS4 permit, uh, for a maximum total credit of 45%. And I will importantly call out that it's a credit on the impervious area, not a credit on the fee itself, because we have a cap on our fee. And so that means a very very large property that might have like a $30,000 fee for example if we didn't have that cap in place uh the credit is based upon their impervious area. Um and I will

call out to that the uh this document points to the state BMP manual which spells out very exhaustively definitions for all of the different types of storm water management facilities um and also providing criteria for how effective they are. Um and then and a property owner must prepare an application to the township for the township engineer to review and ultimately determine um how much credit they actually qualify for. Um and the committee is recommending that there is an initial application fee of $500. And again, we're talking about for the larger, you know, non-residential properties in this case, uh just because there's a fairly exhaustive amount of research that has to be done to verify that. And then um every 3 years uh or 5 years for the permit compliance components having a reapplication fee which is making sure that they're kind of keeping up and providing those uh making sure that those are in proper working order. That was a primary concern um of the committee on the [snorts] residential side. So for the average person probably listening to this, uh there's two types of credit that would be offered. Uh number one is a community event credit. So, for participating in some form of a an approved community event, we'll provide a list of those in the springtime. That's the kind of tree plantings, park cleanups, a lot of the things that the uh Environmental Advisory Council is already spearheading, uh providing a uh 10% credit for attending one or 15% credit for attending two of those in any given year. [snorts] And then, uh probably the bigger one for residential that might be more interesting is a rain barrel workshop program. And so a couple of times a year uh probably in this room we will facilitate a workshop where residents can learn about uh the benefits of rain barrels uh proper installation of rain barrels and actually walk away from that workshop with a rain barrel and installation kit at no cost and that would be paid for out of the revenue of the fee is kind of the idea of the credit behind it with the idea of trying to mitigate uh or help storm water management at individuals properties throughout the township. Um, in order to be adopted per

your ordinance, this would have to be adopted in the form of resolution which is before you this evening. Um, contemplated in the revenue projections, uh, we anticipate about a $50,000 credit uh, or kind of deferred revenue or lost revenue by implementing this credit policy. But as I said before, this is a requirement per the state law to have a policy in place. And this structure is, uh, the product of a lot of work by the stormwater committee. Um well so once again I will um commend the the hard work and diligence of the committee. Um this is obviously this was a priority and something that had to be done and so I I I recognize um the effort that was put into this recommendation. Um so I I understand it's probably hard to predict how much participation there may or may not be. So I I I get that the the $50,000 in reduced revenue is an estimate. Um but I I guess the thought would be that by virtue of some of these activities we will also um improve storm water management. Right? So there is a there's a benefit that the the township is also getting from by by giving this credit.

Right? The idea is that the folks who are paying lesser of a fee because of this credit are the ones that have some sort of improvement to their property that reduces or mitigates the impact of storm water that their property would generate. Any questions for Mr. Valor? Just a clarifying question for the non-residential is it say clarify again for me is it the impervious credit or is it the fee credit? Sure it's a good question. So it's a credit on the impervious calculator credit on the impervious. Okay.

Yeah. So the fee itself uh would not be credited especially because we have a tiered fee. Um and so it's based upon the impervious area and then that new impervious area based with the credit applied would then determine what tier or uh rate they essentially would be paying. Other questions for Mr. Valad? All right, then I will move to adopt. We don't need to move to advertise. We can just adopt. I move to adopt a resolution number 25-26R adopting a storm water impact fee credit policy. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Miss Corpal. Um, there's been a motion and a second. Any questions from the board? Any questions from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.

I. I. It's an I from Miss Hannah. Opposed carries 40. Thank you, Mr. Valor. And thank you again to the members of the uh storm water advisory board. Okay. Um that brings us to uh con uh let's see agenda item number nine which is consideration of authorizing advertisement of a request for proposal for uh pension investment management services. Mr. Rattler.

Thank you very much. Mr. Keysac. Yes. So, pension investment management. The township maintains two pension plans valued at about 70 $70 million as recently as September. Uh we have a pension manager who actually has a couple partners. Uh the lead being Stifle. Uh they charge us in basis points. So we pay 78 basis points for uh their services. Um our minimum municipal obligation for our pension plan, just to put into context, uh the size of what we're talking about as it relates to our budget is 13.75% in 2025. Uh so what we're asking for guidance for from the board tonight is whether or not we should look at this contract potentially by putting it out to an RFP to determine if we can have pension management services that may be more cost effective to uh the township. Now importantly the fees that we pay for pension management come out of the pension plan uh which is about 80% funded both of these plans right now. Uh the 78 basis points is hitting that. The total of those pension management fees for a $70 million plan is about $55,000. uh plus $61,000 in fees inside the investments uh within the plan. If you assume 78 basis points over the life of the plan and a 7% return on investment year-over-year uh with the investment strategy of our plan, that's about $20 million for our $70 million plan in fees over 20 years, assuming that 7% rate of return. Uh the average pension plan of our size, depending on what type of management you have, is between 35 and 45 basis points. Um and the reason that ours is on the higher end is because we have a completely actively managed plan. So the pension managers are actively you know monitoring our investments, what the market is doing and making decisions uh therein on what should happen with that. Some municipalities operate completely static plan which would of course be less day-to-day management which is why the fees will be less. Others have a hybrid and so you see fees sort of across the gamut. We're at 78 basis points. Uh so the question to the township is whether or not there is an

opportunity for a competitive process uh for the management of these plans. Um just to draw it full circle uh the funding status of the plan and the future potential liabilities of that plan turns into what's called a minimum municipal obligation. So our minimum municipal obligation which we vote on in September uh tells us how much we need to minimally put into the two pension plans in order to have the minimum amount of funding in order to pay out the liabilities of the plan. Our minimum [snorts] municipal obligation is 13.75% of our budget or $3.5 million in 2025. Uh the average municipality our size with a similar pension plan is paying significantly less than that maybe like 1.5 million. Um and so the cost of the plan both fees um you know if you have uh you know disability pensions, god forbid if you have a line of duty death, these things sort of impact the funding status of the plan and then drive up or down that minimum municipal obligation. So the question is here is do we think that we could have effective management of the plan at a rate potentially lower than the 78 basis points we're playing now. Um and so as we're in you know there's no secret here later tonight I'm going to be making a presentation on the proposed 2026 budget which does uh involve a tax increase. Many members of our community probably say things like well are there ways that you can reduce the size of your government? Are there ways that we can sort of tighten the belt? Are there ways that we can reduce some of our costs? It's looking at these types of things that are impacting the cost of our government where that comes into play. So with all of that, I'm happy to take questions from the board um and accept your guidance on how we should proceed.

Um and I I would just say that this is not intended to be a commentary on um the effectiveness of the of the current manager. I I think our pension funds are effectively managed and that's not what this is about. Completely agree. [clears throat] Completely agree. Absolutely. The current managers have been in place for a long time. The relationships are very strong. the trust is very high. Uh I personally and I know many others value the service that they provide to the township. Uh but when we're looking at dollars and cents within the budget, uh I think many things have to be on the table. Yep. I agree. And we did this um 2019 um the last time we did an RFP for the I think it was 2018. Yeah.

2018. And and I was part of that process. Um and I found it to be um incredibly valuable just going through the RFP process and and considering other proposals. And so I think it is a worthwhile effort um for the township um to undertake especially given um the current state um of our budget. So are there any questions for Mr. Ratliff?

No, I just wanted to thank the team. I think I think us you know we're we're up against a deficit, right? So I think asking the team where can we cut um you guys took that to heart and and found you know unique areas that we can again I think we'll we'll understand more with an RFP um but I think it's definitely worthwhile to to take a look and see what's out there to see if there are any savings. Other questions, comments? So I guess we need a motion to Yeah, just a motion. There's a recommended one within the policy briefing summary. Anyone want to make a motion?

I'll move to authorize the township manager to advertise a request for proposal for pension investment management services. Thank you, Miss Kane. Is there a second? I'll second. Thanks, Miss Corp. There's been a motion in the second. Any board questions? Questions from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. It's an I for Miss Hannah. Opposed carries 4. Thank you, Mr. Ratliff. Uh, next on the agenda, um, it is officially budget time. So, we will start with our 2026 budget presentation and I'll hand it off once again to our township manager, Mr. Eden Ratliff. Waiting for, right?

Okay. Okay. So, it is fall in Pennsylvania, which means municipalities across the state are engaging in budget conversations uh and presentations just like the one that you are hearing tonight. Can you guys hear me? Okay. So, I am in a group chat with a lot of my manager colleagues across the state and they're doing this weird thing where they're sharing how long it's taking them in their public meetings to present their budget to their governing bodies. Uh the most amount of time the record holder right now is two hours. And with a lot of back and forth today, I've agreed not to try to break that record. So we should be okay. The board and the community can relax. So uh to the board of supervisors, in accordance with chapter 62105B3, it is my obligation and also my distinct privilege to present the proposed 2026 annual budget to you uh for your review, consideration, and feedback as well as the same to the public. Um for those of us who are just joining, welcome to the process. Uh we have been doing this since August of this year. We've had five uh public budget meetings which we'll go over where we've gotten a lot of feedback from the uh community, from the board, from a clicker that might not be going. Here we go. um where we've had the opportunity to sort of get feedback, present challenges um you know within the budget, discuss uh what sort of some of the priorities of the board of supervisors are, what some of the needs from some of the staff are uh what some of the dynamics within our budget are and also an opportunity to provide uh education. So after the uh last budget workshop, I said to the budget team uh all who are here, I say congratulations, you have ended this phase. Tonight we are entering the next phase or last at the end of last week we entered the next phase which is the process where we can present a complete package to you. [snorts] So in the five public workshops we really were going through different requests different realities within the budget getting feedback to try to gauge what the presentation should be and that has led us here tonight. So now we are in the process where we can present a balance budget um for your consideration feedback which we need. Uh the board of

supervisors is under under a statutory obligation to advertise a proposed balance budget for um inspection by the public uh and then an obligation to adopt a tax resolution and a budget by the end of the calendar year so that we can be rocking and rolling in January. So welcome to this phase. So for tonight's agenda, we're going to talk about process and timeline, where we've been, where we are now, where we're going, uh the story of the budget, your investment at work, which is what's in this proposed budget. uh what happens if we do nothing, if we don't act on some of the dynamics that we have and then more info and next steps. So, oh uh everyone pull out your phones, uh if you don't have it and you want to scan this page. So, if we have our phones, there's a QR code at the bottom of this. This will take you to the landing page at on our website, middletownbucks.org. and it is every recording of every public budget meeting that we've had all of the presentations that you've seen if you've been participating the executive summary as well as the budget book. So if you don't have it on the side of the room and online is a diet version of the full budget book in my hands which also the board has and is online is the full budget book for 2026 that will be uh I think it's already posted online for your consideration. If you have questions after tonight, if you are curious about what's in there, if you want to challenge certain things that are in there, it is all within that budget book. Okay, so here's the process. Uh just outlining the meetings that we have. So we started in July, we rolled through August and September. Uh having a few meetings talking about revenue, talking about operating and capital. We did the same thing almost every Monday in October. We are now on the 17th of November uh where we are presenting a proposed budget. The next step is a budget town hall meeting which will be on the 4th of December and then hopefully if all goes well final adoption by the board of supervisors on the 15th of of December. Okay, so where have we been? Uh we have been so just in case anyone isn't watching our social media or website or

hasn't reviewed the budget before tonight, uh the budget does propose a tax increase. We're looking at a half a percent increase in earned income tax and 6.08 mills in real estate tax. And I'll dive into that a little bit later. So the question is why are we raising taxes in order to balance the budget? Uh we have been relying on reserves in to balance our past budget since at least 2018. Uh we've used one-time transfers to mass some of the long-term needs. Uh our expenses are our expenses are growing faster than our re our revenues and we have a structural deficit emerging over the last several years. Um I've been saying I think since August that we have a $2.8 million operating deficit that grows about a year. So, what we've done creatively um is we've used some of our fund balance to be able to spend uh on capital projects and on some operating uh as well as using some investment returns out of our investment fund which has $40 million plus the returns that it sees. All of that has been a very savvy uh and appropriate strategy that the governing body has used uh in order to keep the cost of the government low and to not tax more than necessary the community to make sure that we're still delivering that high rate of services. So, if you're keeping up, we're still delivering a very high rate of services, one that I think our residents expect, and we're using creative solutions within the budget in order to fund all of that. So, the question is, why can't we still do that? Uh, we have a policy in place, and that policy says that we need to maintain a 25% fund balance within the general fund of our total year general fund expenses at a minimum. If we do not significantly reduce cost or add revenue into the budget going 2026, we will be in violation of that policy. So, you might say, "Okay, can we change the policy? What about 20%, or 18%, or 15%." If we do that, we're going to wind up losing our AAA bond rating. There's a couple finance awards that we would also lose, including the uh budget award, which this is the eighth year that we're submitting for that. Um, those things make it harder for us to get grants at the local, state, and federal level. They increase our cost of borrowing, and they create financial uncertainty for the municipality if we were to get into

a rainy day situation. I'm going to show some charts here later on that's going to show um our financial status over the past several years and you'll be able to see some crazy things happen in 2020. We all remember CO 19 and what the realities financially and otherwise were then the financial health of Middletown Township allowed us to survive that with greater ease because of the financial planning that happened there. So then the question is okay did we know that? Have we been telling the community that? One of the things I saw on Facebook someone said well have we been transparent about these realities? So tonight I brought the feedback and the receipts. So what I'm holding is every budget book from 2018. And we went through them for you and we earmarked everywhere that we talked about the structural deficit that we've had in Middletown since 2018. And we've talked about what the need for additional revenue and how operating costs were increasing and how we were diminishing our investment in some capital in order to not increase revenue into the budget. [snorts] We're at the point now where we need to deal with it. So if anyone wants to look at these, we're happy to let you borrow these budget books. [snorts] Okay, so where are we now? Uh so our current expenses are outpacing our revenues by $2.8 million. You can see that on this chart here. That black line is our income and loss. Uh you can see in 2014, 15 and 16 things were going super well where our revenues were greater than our expenses and we've been on a a steady decline uh ever since. And so you can see what that profit and loss looks like. Make sure that I didn't miss anything. Okay, so where we propose to go. I think I missed a couple slides here. I'm sorry. I'm messing up my clicker sort of intensely.

Okay, here we go. All right, so the warning signs. Uh, these are all the budget books. Uh, in last year's 2025 budget, I'm just going to read to you an excerpt out of the 25 budget book. So, Middletown Township will enter into 2025 in a position of financial strength with an accumulated fund balance exceeding $58 million. However, two key challenges have emerged in our budget discussions over the past six years. A persistent structural deficit in the general fund and the absence of a dedicated funding source for the general fund or for the capital fund for 2024. This is a projected 1.5 million structural deficit in the general fund which is expected to grow 2.8 million by the end of 2025. The gap reflects the rising cost of municipal services that have now been offset by proportional revenue growth. Okay. Okay. It would help if I press the right button here. All right. Uh so where we are now. So this is the chart that we've already reviewed that sort of shows um how revenue is impacting the expenditures, the fund balance, and where that income loss is over the course of years. You see that fund balance in the last several years continued to decline. So, where are we proposed to go? So, I'm looking for uh or proposing, I should say, a revenue adjustment for the board of supervisors to consider. 6.08 millillage real estate tax increase, which is an average of $179 per year. We have a more detailed chart where we break out what that looks like per neighborhood within the township and a half a percent earned income tax. Uh, taking it from half a percent now to 1%. Uh, and that's of course based on your gross income. The average for our township is $323 per year. Uh so here is a chart that sort of shows what the behavior of our revenues and expenditures have been. Uh so if you look in that 14 15 16 17 range you can see that surplus where the amount of revenue the township is bringing in was slightly greater than the amount of expenses. Um there was some haywireness um in 19 then of course 2020 where then

there was a skyrocket again. If you look at 22 23 24 25 you start to see that deficit. Um the 26 proposed budget is to essentially equalize it. So we're not overt taxing the residents um to bring in more funding than what is necessary uh in order to uh provide services next year. Uh we really tried to sharpen this to bring in only the amount of money that was needed to deliver the services now as well as execute the capital projects that the board identified as priorities. Any questions from the board so far? Okay. Okay, so just a different chart showing that income loss by year. Um, and sort of what that looks like. Uh, we're trying to get either at or above zero line in terms of income over expenses. So, what does this mean for the average homeowner? So, the on the left is a 2025 average real estate tax summary. Uh the light blue is Middletown, the darker blue is the county, and the dark dark blue is the school district, which is of course your the largest part of your tax bill. The uh proposed 2026 budget that we're going over tonight uh shows what that would look like if it were adopted as presented. Uh so modest income, modest increases on the light blue for real estate tax depending on uh you know, we have a few sample communities here throughout the township to show you. So, what will this fund? So, the question is, um, Eden, if you're proposing a a budget to the board of supervisors, what are we what are we getting out of it? Uh, and so what I'm going to go through here over the next several slides are essentially what the budget is proposing to deal with, which is not just shutting down the deficit. Uh, so paving 9 miles of roads in Levittown, that's more paving in one year than we've done potentially ever. Uh, 75 ADA curb ramps are placed across Cobalt Ridge and the Ivy Stream neighborhoods. that actually completes the amount of ADA ramps that need to be done in Cobalt Ridge and addresses a challenge from 10 years ago in Ivy Stream. Three times the amount of storm

water inlets replaced. Uh so I was talking earlier before the meeting with uh one of our residents that said, "Okay, so you have a storm water fee. You're doing work there. There's also uh you you know you're doing storm water uh projects out of that enterprise fund. You also have been doing a transfer from the general fund." And I said, "Yes, this budget is proposing to do additional storm water work because we know how important doing drainage work as well as storm water quality work to achieve um our D permit requirements is to the township. Park improvements at Simmons Park, Detective Jones Memorial Park and Twin Oaks parks. We reviewed a lot of those projects in the capital budget. Guide rails in Silver Lake, Big Oak, and Banks Road. There's a foot bridge near the Walter Miller Elementary School. If you've been down to the bridge, you know that it needs to be repaired. So, we're addressing that. uh some additional line painting and striping greater than what we've done uh in past years. School zone improvement projects um at all of our public schools, including traffic controller and speed indicator signs, pedestrian signal upgrades at eight intersections along New Falls Road as well as Woodburn Road. Uh we're proposing an advanced warning system at South Flowers Mill Road Bridge, traffic signal, uh mass arm replacements at Trenton and Durham Road. Do you know that one mass on replacement is $75,000 and we have like 10 that are out of compliance because they're rotting through. Uh so we're doing some projects there. Storm water construction to begin at Hillside Avenue. We're proposing five additional equipment operators in the department of public work to support a lot of the storm water maintenance operations. So uh we talked about in both the operations budget and the capital budget how we're proposing to do more projects while we need team members to do that those projects. um you know when we're going to be increasing the amount of inlet replacement and other work we're doing uh there's additional support that needs to happen there. The addition of a full-time firefighter to our career engine. This will be a lieutenant uh to provide command um oversight of that engine unit as they're operating on the fire ground as well as in their inspection process. The addition of a professional engineer to reduce our cost to develop and implement infrastructure projects and to create that team support

and management of other um of some of our other consultants. I just want to note that this is to supplement our existing uh engineering. We're not proposing to make any changes to our thirdparty consultants who are super important members of our teams. Uh it's a value ad, not a replacement increase to both of our volunteer siphon and tax credit programs to maintain viability with our volunteer services. Uh so just as a reminder, we're proposing uh and it is on your agenda tonight to consider a 100% tax rebate for real estate and earned income tax for all of our active volunteer responders. So active means 25% or more of the call volume um at our four volunteer companies in the township. The average firefighter on a career engine is costing us over $120,000 per year. We have about 45 active volunteers in the township who are doing this uh out of the goodness of their heart uh volunteering with the with the township. So we want to incentivize that and also provide incentives for people who may be thinking about volunteering in the fire service. uh security enhancements, which is a continuation of a project at community park and FYIA Crossing Park. Uh that's a camera project. Uh we're proposing a fire protection study to evaluate how much fire apparatus is needed and where it needs to be in the township. So that fire protection study looks at the township, the fire load that we have, our water supply, the different companies we have, and makes recommendations as to what apparatus we need and where they need to be staged as we continue to invest in the fire service. Uh we're completely funding the apparatus plan uh that has been previously presented to the board to fund the purchase of firet trucks in all of our volunteer and career stations. So we know that there is dwindling volunteerism. We know those financial challenges in our fire companies. One of the best ways we can support them that way is by buying their fire trucks. Uh modern software systems to streamline our workflow and enhance efficiencies and support transparency. Uh those who have been in this process with us knows that this $50 million budget that we built uh was done in Excel. And while Excel is an incredible tool, uh it is not necessarily appropriate for budget

building for a budget of our size and complexity. Um and that is all of the major standout projects uh that we're proposing in 2026. So let me just step back and take a story. So our budget's not just a spreadsheet. Um, the budget, if you've read our documents, if you're watching our behind the budget series on our social media, uh, if you've been engaging in our meetings, you hear me say and you've heard the board say, it's a statement of their policy priorities moving forward um, and and for the future year. So, the question is, what are they prioritizing? Um, it's an investment into the communities, right? Uh, safe neighborhoods, roads, infrastructure, clean parks. um sort of getting back to the basics and making sure that we're sort of structurally sound financially in all of our funds so that our teams can continue to do the work that we do. Um over 60% of our budget is our police department uh who's out there 24/7 365 responding to uh you know any of the needs that our communities have but also being proactive. You know, they're in the schools. They're at events. We heard uh very nice compliments about them um earlier tonight uh who are doing this work. My goal as the manager is to make sure that all of our teams have the resources that they need in order to do their job super well, effectively, and efficiently so that they're delivering high quality services to the community. We're accomplishing the uh priorities of the board and that this continues to be an amazing community where people want to live, play, recreate uh and work. Uh investing in fire services, I feel like we're talking about that a lot. Um the dwindling volunteerism across the nation is a huge issue. Um there's two things that need to happen in my opinion. And it's investing in the volunteer companies to meet the needs that they have so they can continue to do the work that we're asking of them as well as preparing for that transition with our career staff who is supplementing them when there are challenges. Uh and the same thing goes for EMS. We don't talk about EMS nearly enough, but we have a full-time 247 squad. The chief is here tonight. Uh they have needs too. They don't ask for a lot, but we rely on them, right? There's more EMS calls than

anything else in this township in a year. Um infrastructure. Um, you know, we sort of talk about, you know, how difficult it is to manage a township. Um, you know, as our budget budgets might fluctuate up, down, as our staffs might fluctuate kind of in and out, the amount of infrastructure we have doesn't shrink. If anything, it grows depending on the dynamics within that municipality. No matter what, we're not going to have anything less than 160 mi of road next year. The hundreds of miles of storm water drainage, they're not going anywhere. And so having a budget that invests in that is super important. And what I see it as is an investment in the team that we asked to do it. Right? We have 20 employees in public works. This is what they do. So when we talk about investing in infrastructure, we're giving the resources to these folks here who are out in the street working on this to make sure these things are, you know, up to speed, that they're functioning properly, that we're replacing them at their life cycle, uh, you know, expiration so that, um, the community can have the infrastructure that it needs. Um, the same things that are true with parks. Um, our parks are some of our greatest assets. They're in them all the time. Over the weekend, uh someone in our community drove by our new Lions Park, which if you haven't checked it out yet, it's amazing. It's colorful and bright with beautiful equipment. And there was not a single place to park on Saturday, right? The community is using it. And when we talk to them, they say, "Hey, I live over here. Can you replace my park here? Can you take this community, you know, field that we have? You know, we're looking for a gazebo with electric and some benches. Like, this is a popular service that we have. You know, are parks required?" Not necessarily, right? You could close every park you have, but what would that make the community? Like what would that make the township, right? These are the things that, you know, take a a a place where people sleep and make it a place where people live. So, an investment into the parks. Uh, and then what you don't see, which is the back end, right? It's admin, it's finance, it's IT, it's the internal service departments, HR who are working to serve the employees internally who are external facing with the services

that they need. Right? is managing our finances which is over $50 million right it's uh managing our IT infrastructure with over 300 end units it's managing the different insuranceances and policies and benefits that we have or which are complex right in an organization with 125 full-time employees for collective bargaining agreements a ton of different insurance policies um these things have to be managed and they're managed really well but those teams need services too so that our government can continue to function uh function at a high So that's sort of what the story is when I think about what does this budget book say? It says these this is where we've been. This is where we plan to go. Here's the forecasting. This is what it looks like for 2026. Uh the next few slides are some charts that we've been showing at our um budget workshops leading up to now. Just sort of documenting how challenging it is to manage the infrastructure. Um how we've been managing it over the last several years and what that pace needs to look like. Um you've heard us say that our storm water pipe replacement program is like a thousand years. Um it's going to take another 30 years to address all of our um deficient ADA rams. Paving is sort of a similar story. And so just recognizing that there's additional funding needs um that needs to go into this infrastructure in order to maintain it uh at a level that I think our residents and board expect. So, the questions that I think the community is going to have and that the board is going to have. Um, just a few. Um, why is a tax increase needed now. So, for several years, the cost to maintain existing services have risen faster than the revenues. The township faces a structural budget gap that needs to be filled. Um, so what real estate taxes are we raising? We're proposing to raise 6.08 mills that will be allocated directly to fire protection, fire apparatus, ambulance and rescue, parks and recreation. Uh, these funds support our essential community services. So, the earned income tax, um, we are the only municipality in the Nami school district that is not at a 1% earned income tax. We're at half a percent. Um, and we're proposing to use that to close that budget gap and continue to invest

in other government services uh, that are outlined within that general fund. Uh, and mainly into capital, $5.3 million next year uh, directly into capital at a very large amount. How much will it cost the average homeowner? The proposed budget reflects an increase of the approximate $179 in real estate and 323 per year in earned income tax. So why not use reserves or raise other fees insteads? So it's sort of not true in local government that you can just raise fees to a level where you're going to balance your budget. Um there are caps on all of that. Um you know, for example, in sort of the land use world, you can't be making a profit on your fees. They're designed to cover your cost. Um, in addition to use our reserves to address our structural deficit will put us in jeopardy of violating our own fund balance policy, which of course put in jeopardy our AAA bond rating and overall financial strength. So, will the stormwater impact fee increase? Great news. We are not proposing any changes except for the credit policy, which I think is a positive change to the stormwater credit fee. Uh, can we balance the budget without a tax increase? In order to balance the budget without a tax increase, which I'm going to go into, we would need to significantly reduce existing staff and services. um which I think will have significant challenges throughout the township. Uh so few questions. So one thing I've always heard in over 10 years of proposing municipal budgets, they say, "Well, did you just approve everything?" Like did you say no to anything? And I think that's a super valid question when we're talking about additional revenues into the budget. [snorts] So two areas of cuts. One is what is approved in a previous year budget, including 2025, that we sharpen the pencil on and did not approve going into 2026. Here's a list of what that looks like. Uh, a lot of diesel closing, some communications, some additional uh, engineering cost. Um, some office supply stuff. Really just looking at more fine to budgeting and not assuming kind of upward, which if you do that too often across line items, you can really increase the cost of your budget. Um, you know, which is not necessary. So, we actually cut almost a million dollars from 25 just saying, "Hey, we can sharpen the pencil

here going into 26." Uh, really happy with the budget team's work on that. And then in additional requests, we did not fund everything that our department's asked for. Uh there's a million dollars here that we said, "Hey, these are great projects like solar panels on the barn uh at Memorial Park. That's a great project." I think when we're looking at a budget of this magnitude, maybe it's something we look at in a future year. So between taking things out of the existing budget as well as uh proposals for next year, we cut about $2 million out. So what happens if we don't do this? So, let's say that we don't raise real estate taxes 6.08 mills. Let's say that we don't implement a half a percent EIT. What happens? Um, it's really a challenge. Um, it's a challenge that I think no township manager wants to to have to face. Um, you know, we would be looking at staff layoffs. We would be looking at cutting services. We would be looking at uh some infrastructure that we maintain now, especially the 800 acres of different patches of grass and fields across our green belt. We would not be mowing that. Um we would be significantly delaying our investment into infrastructure for paving for ADA ramps. Uh we would have less public work staff. So, uh our storm water improvements, our snow plowing would all be delayed. Um we would start by getting rid of the sort of the proactive stuff, right? So, we still need a reactive police department. you call 911, you need people to respond, but we also have divisions within the department where they're very proactive, which I think is great. Um, but maybe that, you know, is something that we can't continue. Um, I think that we would wind up eliminating staff from every department. Uh, some of the programs that we run, uh, in parks and recreation, you know, they're they're probably, you know, not able to be done if we're not going to balance this budget. Uh, you know, I think about things like the Friday Night Kickball League, very popular. you know, it's it's sort of on the margins in terms of revenue against cost, but that's probably a nice to have, you know, when we're looking at that. Um, I mean, these

are, you know, these are challenges. Um, not not recommending that, not recommending layoffs. I think that we are a right-sized government. I think there's some areas for investment. I think the infrastructure investment really concerns me, which is what this budget focuses on. Um, but to in order to close the budget gap that we have now of $3.8 $8 million, we would need to significantly reduce this government in ways that I think would have harmful impacts throughout the community. So, next steps, um, if the board is pleased with the document you have in front of you, um, and the presentation you've heard, you're able to vote to advertise that for public inspection. I think the December 4th town hall is a great opportunity for the community to come out uh to have in maybe a less formal setting sort of feedback uh sessions with the staff at the board of supervisors, get questions answered um and hopefully find that this budget is a way to sort of deliver um really great investment into the community in 2026. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions from the board.

Thank you, Mr. Riff. Um that was uh very very detailed and thorough and I appreciate it. Um and I I I absolutely want to thank uh not only yourself but also Mr. Valor uh Miss Hucklebridge um everybody who is involved in the process of putting together this budget document. It's it's an incredible incredible task to put together a municipal budget. Um it it amazes me every year um what what truly goes into um to putting together this this document. And so I I commend all the hard work and dedication over the last uh weeks and months to um to to put together a budget that you can present uh not only to us but to to this community. Um this this was obviously a hard budget process. Um well, they're they're all hard. Um and and I think the the point you made um was an important one. It's as long as I've been on the board, every year we have struggled with the um growing reality that expenses were outpacing revenues. I mean, that's just the reality. Um and I think it's it's not a um it's not an unfair metaphor to compare it to, you know, any any anybody um living in the community um any family living in the community. Imagine, you know, seeing your your household expenses increasing year after year after year, but never getting an increase in your income. Um, that's kind of what Middletown has been doing. Fortunately, uh, we were in a position for several years where we had enough balance that we could we could sustain ourselves. And it was the, um, it was a priority and a goal of this board to not raise taxes on the residents of Middletown Township. and I'm proud that we've been able to to do that to not raise taxes for the entire time I've I've been on this board. Um, however, we all knew and we've talked about it every single year that we've gone through this process, which is why this process is always difficult, that, you know, time was running out there. There was going

to be a point in time where we would not be able to sustain um the current revenue levels. And I think, you know, the most important slide that I saw you put up was the one that talked about what it would mean uh to the residents of this community if our revenue stays flat. Um you know, the the thought of laying off police officers, of cutting services, of neglecting parks and public facilities, neglecting roads and and um I mean that's that's not Middletown anymore. I mean, that's that's not the community that we live in. That's not why we are all choosing to live and raise our families in Middletown. And we are at a crossroads where we have the very real challenge of making a decision between continuing and maybe even improving the level of service that we are providing to our residents um and keeping revenues uh and taxes flat or increasing our revenues, increasing the tax burden on our residents in order to maintain the current level of services that we've all come to know and appreciate. Um, and I think what I believe I have heard from residents is um, as unpalatable as I think a tax increase always is, changing the fundamental character and quality of this community that we love is just not something that anybody wants and it's certainly not something that I'm willing to accept. Um, I I want to commend our team, really truly commend our team for their efforts. You know, you're right. We we get asked all the time, well, what have you done to to cut expenses? What have what have you done to tighten the belt, right? I mean, and again, to use that metaphor of, you know, ourselves and our own families,

right? I mean, when um expenses increase uh or where revenue ra remains flat, you know, what can you do to save money? And our our team, this incredible staff has managed to cut expenses by close to a million dollars. Um they also, I'm sure, much to the displeasure of um some team members and some directors, they denied rejected, you know, proposals um over a million dollars in requested proposals. Um things that, you know, I'm sure um would have been fantastic and would have benefited the community. But I think that I hope will um make it clear that there has been a concerted concerted effort to to reduce expenses to rein in spending um to put together a budget for next year that is not um is not needlessly spending money is is being responsible with taxpayer dollars. And so this is this is where we are in 2025 headed into 2026. This is the the scenario that we face. This is the reality for this board, the decision that we have to make. But most importantly, this is tonight is the opportunity uh well, not just tonight, but tonight is the beginning of the opportunity for members of this community to examine this budget, to to think about this budget, to ask questions about this budget, to give feedback about this budget. We're not voting to approve the budget tonight. This is just the draft budget. This is the proposal. Um next month when we are back here, we will have an opportunity as a board to vote on a budget. But this this this period of time is really um this is how we get feedback from the community. This is how we get an opportunity ourselves to, you know, ask the hard questions and and really consider everything that's in this very long and detailed document. And so I would encourage folks, I'm going to give everybody the opportunity if anybody wants to to to ask questions tonight of us of of township staff. Um but I also would encourage everybody over the coming weeks, take your time, look

through this, think about it. Um, we are open-minded with this process. We are open-minded with this budget. Um, we have an obligation as elected officials to provide services to this community. And that is what we are committed to do. This budget, um, as everyone heard and will see, requires more revenue for us to continue to do that, more revenue than we are currently bringing in. And to a large degree, that is because we made the decision not to raise taxes for many, many years. Um, you know, we could have, had we wanted to, steadily raised taxes at a smaller rate every single year. A lot of municipalities do that. Um, but we didn't do that because we were committed to not raising taxes on the residents, but we knew that eventually we were going to reach this breaking point and we are certainly here. Um, so with that, I will first give my um, colleagues on the board an opportunity if they want to say anything or ask any questions.

Yeah. So, Mike, I I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. Um, I know since I've been on the budget, we've been trying very, very hard every year to make sure that there are no tax increases. Um, we know that, you know, families are struggling right now. The, you know, cost of living is going up. Um, but just as Mike has said, not only the cost of living is going up for you, but for the township as well. Every year our, um, you know, our expenses increase, but our revenue hasn't increased because we've been determined not to raise taxes. Um, you know, we have talked about it. We've seen the writing on the wall that this was going to be coming at some point. And I think we're definitely at the point where we need to make some hard decisions and everybody in Middletown, we moved here for a reason. You know, we moved here, I moved back here with my children, you know, when I started a family. Um because of the quality of life here and we are, you know, we don't want to decrease that. Of course, everybody wants to have, you know, their green belts mowed and we want our roads fixed and we want our great police officers to be able to do what they do. We don't want that. If we take, you know, that away, it's going to hurt the quality of life here in Middletown. Um, and I think just from what we've heard from residents, nobody wants that. Um so we are definitely look, you know, we've looked at different ways that we could make this work without the with the least amount of um you know harmful effects for the community. Um, and I know that our staff has worked incredibly hard to come up with a plan um, that will do the least, you know, that would work the least amount of increasing taxes but keep our services at that high quality or even better than they have been because we have had to um, say no to a lot of things in the past couple years that would be good for the community. And sometimes saying no means you're paying more later. So, we

have to be careful about that. We need to make financially um wise decisions and um that's why we definitely want everybody to take a look at the the um you know proposed budget and give your feedback on there on it. Um, and I just thank again the department heads for all of the cuts that they've done, all of the hard work and our budget team for going above and beyond really trying to get this out to the public. Um, so everybody can understand what is happening, trying to be as transparent as possible. Um, I know I'm almost done my tenure here, but I want all good things from Middletown and I'm really happy of all the hard work and um, I know that will continue. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work as well. Um, we could say it a thousand times, but truly, um, I just want to let everybody know that, um, Eden's team, they worked diligently and answered our questions, provided a lot of background information, um, made it clear crystal clear that, um, really this budget reflects um, our goal, and I know my goal, I I think the rest of us believe, to protect the quality of life that we have here in Middletown Township while being fiscally responsible. Um this weekend, uh Dana and I, we were at the burn school and we went because we wanted to see um exactly what the firefighters were doing, what they were learning, um because we want to support them. Um and that type of engagement and involvement um you know that Eden that you have provided for us um really gives us um a clear vision of what is truly important in our in our township. Um so thank you to emergency services, police department, the fire department, parks and recreation. Um you know these are things that are very important and that we want to protect. So thank you

again. Thank you for um everything that you guys done. I've know that this budget um one I'm thankful for the transparency that we put out there. Having the recorded budget sessions, having all of the fin the packets out there available, I think is a really big step forward. Um, one of the things that people ask me all the time is, uh, what's the hardest thing about being a supervisor? It's this. It is knowing that in the back of my head, knowing that this structural deficit existed, that since 2018, I've read every single one of those books front to back and I've known that it's been here. I've even said no to projects that I agreed with and I want it because I knew we didn't have the dollars behind the scenes. Um I think, you know, it's it's unfortunate we have three options here. One is to raise taxes and um implement the strategy here that we've talked about for 26. It's cut staffing. that most likely is cutting police and public works, cutting services, um or doing a hybrid, increasing taxes, but not doing all of those items. We want to hear from the public. Um I'm really I'm really looking forward to the December 4th. I hope people can come out for the town hall. Um what do you want as your vision for Middletown? This isn't us. This isn't me. This is all of us. What do we want Middletown Township to look like? not just next year, but in the coming 10, 15, 20 years. I know I'm going to be around. I plan to be here for the rest of my life. Um, so I really want to start, you guys can email myself, come out to the the um town hall. I think it's important to get feedback from everyone um on what this is.

Just to add a couple things um to follow what the board said. Um thank you for those comments. So, you know, if the board approves it tonight, now is the inspection period. So, that is for the public. Um, our job as a township staff is to be um as available and transparent as possible. If you're not following us on social media, that's unfortunate because our social media is terrific. So, I would encourage you to follow us on um Instagram and Facebook. Uh we have started last Friday a behind the budget scenes process. Uh some of our stars, I think, are here who recorded a video over the weekend um where we are talking about what's in this budget book. Um what is behind the budget? why is it there? Um, all for the reason of just promoting transparency. Um, it is not the township staff's job to advocate for the budget. We're not doing that. We're providing information to the governing body and to the public so we can have informed discussions. Um, I'm dead serious when I say to the community, please read this budget book from front to back. Um, read it. We wrote every word in there intentionally. um countless nights, countless weekends, working through holidays, sending emails at 6 a.m. saying, "I'm going to go to bed now because I was up all night." It it's in here. We wrote it for a reason, and the reason is transparency, right? Government works well with oversight. Um and that is the function of the community. So, we want to provide you this information, and feel free to question us on it. Um you know, please read it. Please read the information in there. It provides a ton of clarity. If you have questions, we're happy to talk through it. Um, you know, my my advice is to be informed and to provide that feedback accordingly. Um, I will end by saying thank you to the team. I know the board just did as well. I have put a lot of pressure on this budget team. On this budget team is one person who built a budget in Middletown last year, and that's the assistant township manager, Nick Valla, who did an incredible job providing institutional knowledge, perspective, access to that team. um others on that team, some of them have never built a municipal budget before. And they said, "Why am I on the budget team?" And I said, "You need to be on the budget team. Your perspective, the reason that you're here will bring a lot

of value." Um and they did an amazing job. And I mean, what I said, working holidays, working nights, working overnights, um to try to make sure that this process was transparent, that it was robust, that we looked at every single expense. We didn't just assume something from one year to the other. um because they're committed, dedicated public servants and I'm super proud of them, super appreciative of them. The process is not over. This is not time for us to be doing a victory lap. They can breathe and relax for the next couple days, but we still have uh a lot of education to the community to do, which we will do. We're getting ready for December 4th. I hope to see everyone who's here tonight and listening online at that meeting. Um you know, we will relax when the budget is adopted. So, thank you to them. Their work has been uh incredible and I know it will continue. And thank you to the board.

Thank you, Mr. Riff. So, I I know um I I want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to to obviously look this document over and we um are um hopefully providing lots of opportunities for folks to provide feedback, but is there any members of the public that would like to ask questions or comment uh tonight on the budget? Okay. Um any of my colleagues, anything else uh that they would like to say? Mr. Bella, you didn't get an opportunity, but you were uh a huge part, if not the biggest part of putting together this uh incredibly comprehensive document. Is there anything you would like to add?

Um other than it's my favorite time of year. Um even though my wife would sincerely disagree with that statement. Love you, honey, if you're listening. Hopefully, you're not. Uh but just quickly wanted to add just a couple of procedural notes just because this year's budget is a little bit different than what we've typically um done in terms of the approval process. So, as we talked about initially, there is advertising the budget. So, there's three advertisements here. One of them is just advertising the budget as we've talked about. That's a typical thing that we do this time of year uh before you act on it. That is something you are required by law to do. Uh the other two pertain specifically to the tax increase proposals. Uh the first is specific to the EIT, which is enabled by Act 511. You're going to get a brief like state law uh policy uh briefing here. Uh so act 511 in 1965 allows the township to have several different types of taxes including the EIT. When it was initially established the ordinance allows the township to go up to a rate of 1% with the actual rate established by resolution. And so essentially you have a law on the books that says 1% but by resolution you guys have it set at 1 half% where it's been the entire time. In order to adjust that rate at all that law requires you to put out a public notice via advertisement. So advertising saying we are considering a 1% EIT projecting what the revenue assumptions would be with that that is something you would have to do in order to effectuate an EIT. Uh two quick notes on that I do want to embellish uh for those who have burning questions who remember from years ago when we last talked about the EIT. Uh number one is for folks who uh might receive an exemption from this. Uh number one the ordinance currently allows the maximum u by law $12,000. So, if you have an annual income of 12,000 or less, that is the maximum we are allowed to do by state law. Uh, you don't have to pay the EIT at all. You're exempt from it. Um, as are anybody generally who is on a form of retirement income, social security, pensions, uh, other types of retirement incomes, you are generally exempt from paying the EIT. So, this is your average kind of

working resident. So, two big categories we want to call out there. Uh, the other piece of this pertains to the school district. Um, the school district is governed by different sets of laws than a secondass township is. And one of the questions that I know has been swirling around, we've been hearing it just in the last couple days is, well, can the school district come in and, you know, as they say, take their half percent is kind of what folks are uh referring to. Um, and our interpretation is that in order to do so, the school district would actually have to go to a referendum of the voters in order to affffectuate that. The township is not under that same obligation to do so. Um, and so if that is the case, obviously there would be a lot of uh information out there leading up to that action and ultimately it's in the hands of the voters to do so. So I know that years ago that that was a concern and I we've heard it certainly in the last couple of weeks as this has started to uh swirl around. Uh but just wanted to get on the record up front that that is a key detail uh that is being considered as part of this process.

So can I just just to make sure we just clarify that last point. So, the school district um currently has a real estate tax, correct? And so, the school district could, if had they wanted to, they could enact an earned income tax, which would effectively take half of the township's earned income tax and allocate it toward the school district. But in order for the school district to do that, that would actually have to go on the ballot and the voters would have to approve it.

Exactly. Right. And as Mr. Ratliff pointed out with the exception of Langghorn Manor, the other five, if I'm counting right, school districts or um municipalities in the Shamony school district are all at that 1%. And so unlike Middletown, which is doing this for the first time potentially in 2026, all of those other municipalities have been using that uh half percent additional and so that would actually be coming directly out unless they take other alternative means of their own. Thank you.

Um the other piece is the real estate uh aspect. Uh so the secondass township code which is kind of like the constitution if you will for a secondass township. Again another state law. Um our memo on uh on link to the agenda has links to all of these. If you're really like a policy nerd encourage you to go do that in addition to reading the budget. Um the secondass township code limits how much we can tax on real estate for different categories. One of those is for fire, one of those is for ambulance. There is adjustments proposed to both of those. So of that 6.08 08 increase that we're talking about. There's an additional 3.08 for fire, a 1.42 for fire apparatus, which per the state law, those are combined. That's a combined total. So, we would be going from a combined total of three to 7 and a half. For ambulance, you're currently at 44. We're talking about re uh moving 3 ms from the general. So, a general would actually see a small reduction and moving that into the ambulance fund. The state law limits you to three and a half mil 3 mills and 1/2 mil respectively for fire and EMS. There was a state law passed in uh 2024 I believe which allows a secondass township to pass an ordinance similar to what I described at the EIT to allow you to go to a new cap of 10 and 5 mills respectively for fire and EMS. So what is before you tonight is to advertise that ordinance which allows you to go to those higher caps and then as we do every single year in the December meeting immediately after you adopt the budget you would then adopt the actual tax rate on a yearly basis as you already do and so the legislation before you tonight as it pertains to real estate allows you to tax beyond what the secondass township code allows you to do currently.

Got it. I know it's really complex. Um Mr. Mr. Espazito, can we do all these um advertisement um motions all in one or do we have to do them each separately? Yes. Well, if you look in the memo, we have three different categories for the motion. I uh asked Mr. Val to separate them out as a one, two, and three. So, when you read the motion, it'll have item number one, item number two, and item number three.

Where? See, I got it. I see. Okay. Um All right. So, I will move to authorize number one, advertisement of the Middletown Township uh 2026 proposed budget. Number two, drafting an advertisement of a public notice to increase the Middletown Township earning income tax rate to 1%. And number three, drafting an advertisement of an ordinance to increase the maximum real estate tax levies to 10 mills for fire protection services and 5 mills for ambulance and rescue services. And just again to make it to make it abundantly clear to the to the extent that it wasn't, these are just motions to advertise these things so that we can consider them at our next meeting. Um we're not we're not voting to increase the real estate tax or uh the earned income tax tonight. Um, again, this is all an opportunity to put these things before the public and give them an opportunity to consider them and provide feedback. Is there a second?

Second. Thank you, Miss Corbal. There's been a motion and a second. Are there any board questions? Any questions from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Carries 4. Thank you once again, Mr. Ratliff, Mr. Valor, Miss Hucklebridge, the entire team. You guys are truly the best. Um, okay. That brings us to our next agenda item, which is consideration of authorizing advertisement of an agreement to the volunteer service tax credit ordinance. Mr. Ballot,

I promise this is the last time you'll hear from me tonight. Um, so as Mr. Ratliff uh added in the proposed budget for 2026 is an adjustment to both the stipend as well as the tax credit we offer to our volunteers that serve Middletown Township. Um, specifically on the stipen, there is no legislation required for that. That is something that's built into the budget and you usually take action on early in uh the in the year. Um, but what is required for legislation is uh changing the tax credit. So, in early 2024, uh the board adopted an ordinance which allows a $500 tax credit from either real estate or earned income, one or the other. Maximum 500 regardless of your tax liability. And if your liability is less, then you got less in credit up to what you actually paid. So in 2024, there were 34 volunteers who received a combined uh just under $15,000 of credit. Um what we are proposing is an increase um as I mentioned to the stipen program, which all volunteers who are certified by the fire companies and EMS squad um to $599. That is just under the tax limit. Uh currently it's $250. Uh what there is a requirement for legislation on is increasing the tax credit specifically for volunteer firefighters. So the uh ordinance requires um a 25% rate of response or participating in 25% of that agency's calls, the four agencies that serve the township in order to qualify. There is also an hours requirement that would not be changing. So, anybody who currently qualifies under the hours requirement would still get the existing benefit of $500 max from one or the other. What we're talking about is specifically for the volunteer firefighters that are running into the burning building, making sure that those folks who are providing that extreme level of service get the most possible credit. [snorts]

So, I mean, we obviously as a board, as a as a township, as a community, always want to make sure that we are um acknowledging and caring for our volunteers. um they do without question perform tremendous service to this community and they are again volunteers. Um and and one of the things that we have certainly heard over and over again from our volunteer fire companies and I and this is this is no secret. This is an issue nationwide is that volunteerism is unfortunately down. Um and it's a real problem. And so what they have asked us for is help frankly in keeping the volunteers that they have and uh recruiting new volunteers to the volunteer companies. And so I think this is one way where we can hopefully um further that effort, further that initiative. Um any questions for Mr. Valor from any of the board members?

No, I just want to say um I think that this is more than you know fair. I think that this is, you know, our firefighters, our volunteers do such a service for our community and um I think this is, you know, something that we can do for them.

I agree. This is something again one of the things that is always on the back of my mind. Um you know, making sure that we keep the volunteer service viable. um you know going into a 24/7 career um will cost significantly more than this small amount of stipen that we are providing. So, um, again, I think, uh, Bernardet had just mentioned that we were at a live burn exercise, um, this weekend to really see how they, uh, how they operate under conditions, scenario, different scenarios, um, and you really get a sense for what they have to what they have to know and what they have to go through in order to respond to each of these fires. Um, so again, I am uh happy to hopefully provide, you know, a little bit more of um a stipen than what we are today.

I can accept a motion if anybody wants to make it. I make a move. I move to authorize the township solicitors to draft and advertise an ordinance to increase the volunteer service tax credit for eligible firefighters to 100% of the township real estate tax and earned income tax liability for volunteers who respond to at least 25% of the calls for emergency services to which the agency responds taking effect for tax year 2025. Thank you Mr. Corbal. Is there a second? A second. Been a motion and a second. Any board questions? Questions from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I.

Opposed. Carries. 40. Thank you again, Mr. Valor. Um, and so that concludes all of our formal agenda items tonight. Um, and takes us to other business. Um, the first item that I'll just um comment on under other business. I don't know if uh folks paid attention, but we had an election this month and we are going to have two new supervisors joining us in January and they happen to both be here in the audience tonight. So, I just want to take the opportunity once again to congratulate and welcome uh Ryan and Christian, Ryan Leighton, uh Christian Gallardo. They will be joining us as newly elected township supervisors. They'll be sworn in in January. Um and I just want to say congratulations to you guys. Welcome and we look forward to all the great work that you're going to do for Middletown Township. [applause]

Mr. um looking forward to seeing folks on December 4th at the next public uh town hall meeting. Otherwise, nothing else. Mr. Kesler, uh nothing to add this evening. Just wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday. Mr. Espazito, thank you. I just wanted to make one clarification for the uh for the minutes of the meeting um that Supervisor Hannah was originally participating through phone and she uh showed up in person at 7:58. Just wanted that mentioned in the minutes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Riff.

Uh, thank you again to the team who made tonight process um possible, I should say, and the process that they went through um in completing all of this. My thank yous can't be um you know, said enough to all of them. Um happy holidays to everyone and anyone who wants to see pictures of Supervisor Hannah and Supervisor Kane in Tower 8 operating the bucket and on the fire ground. Uh feel free to check out our social media. Miss Corbal, just wanted to say happy uh Thanksgiving to everybody. Miss Kane, happy Thanksgiving. Miss Hannah, happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Uh we are done. I can take a motion to adjurnn. I make a motion to adjurnn. We're journ. Thanks everybody. Have a great night.