Preliminary 2022-23 township budget presented

By Lisa Brody

A preliminary fiscal year 2022-2023 budget for Bloomfield Township was presented by finance director Jason Theis at the board of trustees meeting on Monday, November 22, with the expectation there will be changes and adjustments before final adoption by the end of March 2022.

“This is preliminary. There are a lot of things that may or may not be included in March,” township supervisor Dani Walsh explained to fellow trustees.

Theis first gave an update on the current fiscal year 2021-2022 budget.

“We're currently about five to six months into the current fiscal year, and the three funds, general fund, road fund and public safety fund, are very intertwined because of interfund transfers,” Theis said. “Because of that, it's possible this year that revenues could exceed expenditures by about $1.5 million, with a lot of caveats. Health care alone could wipe that out if we had two bad months. This can also change because some budgeted, but unfilled positions, about 12, that we're actively trying to fill, have not been.”

He said revenue this fiscal year is estimated to have a taxable value of $4.224 billion, equating to a 2.5 percent net increase to tax revenue after Headlee rollbacks.

“There was an unexpected nine percent increase in state revenue sharing of $400,000, and net investment earnings are on track with the budget,” Theis said. EMS transport fees, which plunged during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now projected to be over budget.

Current projected expenditures include contractually mandated two percent wage increases, a defined benefit pension payments of almost $4.7 million, making it 93 percent funded, and

OPEB contribution of $1.25 million, bringing it to 21 percent funded.

In the preliminary 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, total anticipated revenues total $23.7 million in the general fund, compared to $22.66 million in the current fiscal year. Revenues into the public safety fund are projected at $37.7 million, versus $36.3 million for 2021-2022. Road fund revenues are predicted to go down, from $5.2 million currently to $4.7 million next fiscal year. Current property taxes are $9.1 million; they are projected to be $9.4 million in the next budget, with a projected taxable value of $4.406 billion, a 3.5 percent net increase after Headlee rollbacks, Theis said.

“The increase in state revenue sharing from 2021-2022 is projected to be extraordinary, and should decrease for 2022-2023,” Theis said. There will be contractual wage increases of 2.5 percent, defined benefit pension payment of $4.9 million, and an OPEB contribution of $1.25 million.

He also anticipates a further decrease in investment earnings.

He said he anticipates increases in fuel costs in the next year, and next year is an election year, with the costs for two elections to be budgeted, with the potential for one or two township millage renewals.

“The largest public safety millage is coming due, and possibly the safety path millage,” he said.