Palmer's 2012 Budget Cuts Police, Insurance and Roads

In the final meeting of the year, adopted the $14.1 million 2012 budget with no new taxes, but this did not happen without some significant slashing, including $800,000 in road projects and more than $230,000 from the police department.

"It gets tougher every year," said Board Chair David Colver. "We did more with less this year, and we look forward to a better 2012."

This is the fourth year in a row that the township kept the tax rate the same, 6.25 mills, or about $313 on a property assessed at $50,000.

Supervisors were able to prevent a tax increase, partly, by cutting into the staff and benefits:

• Remove one dog in the K-9 Corps, saves $7,129
• Eliminate one K-9 officer and return to regular duty, saves $5,000
• Reduce overtime for police from $503,217 to $400,000, saves $103,217
• Reduce township contribution to police pension from 8% to 5%, saves about $116,000

These cuts include eliminating the training expenses to maintain a SWAT team. The idea is that if the officers aren’t away training, the township wouldn’t have to pay overtime, though Police Chief Bruce Fretz has said overtime is not used to cover officers in training.

The township also adjusted its health insurance plan that will require township employees to contribute more to the plan, saving the township $176,860. The changes include:

• Office visit copay goes from $10 to $20
• Emergency room copay goes from $35 to $100
• Prescription copay goes from $5 to $10 generic and $30 brand name

The township also saved $29,000 in insurance premiums that covered the costs of short-term disability, which pays 66.67 percent of regular salary to non-uniformed employees and 100 percent to uniformed employees.

Only one employee went on disability this year, so the insurance cost more than the benefit payout. Therefore, supervisors decided to self-insure disability leave, meaning they save the $29,000, but if several people go on disability, the township would have to pay out the benefit itself.

Other cost savings came from cutting about $800,000 from public works projects such as road improvements in 2012.

The vote to approve the budget was unanimous, with no changes since its initial proposal on Dec. 1.

Supervisors next meet for their reorganization meeting Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.