Springettsbury board adopts 2025 budget and tax levy, approves advertising for traffic and volunteer credit ordinances

Springettsbury Township approved its 2025 municipal budget and set the 2025 tax levy at 1.5 mills, while also authorizing advertising of several ordinances and approving a playground purchase during its regular meeting.

The board voted to adopt resolution 2024‑54, the 2025 budget, after staff and directors said the budget maintains the previously lowered spending level and thanked department directors for their work. Chair and managers characterized the budget as essentially unchanged from the prior year’s adopted base, and members voted in favor by voice vote.

Why it matters: the tax levy and budget together determine the township’s revenue for operating services next year and set the baseline for departmental spending.

Board members also voted to set the 2025 tax levy at 1.5 mills (resolution 2024‑55). "That is 1.5 mills," a board member stated during the roll call.

A contentious regional item: York Area United Fire & Rescue budget

The board discussed and then approved resolution 2024‑56 adopting the York Area United Fire & Rescue (YAUR) 2025 budget, which board members said reflected a roughly 12–13% increase driven largely by personnel and hydrant costs. Members repeatedly criticized the clarity of YAUR’s presentation and said limited representation constrains the township’s influence: Springettsbury holds two votes on the seven‑member YAUR board (three this year including the member‑at‑large).

"The presentation and our ability to get any kind of analysis of the budget for YAUR is very disappointing," one supervisor said. Several members said they supported adopting the budget reluctantly because vetoing it would leave the township with the prior year’s budget and unclear downstream effects while labor negotiations — which will largely determine final costs — remain unresolved.

Traffic and public safety decisions

Following a police speed and traffic count on Carroll Road, staff recommended advertising an ordinance to add stop signs on Carroll Road at Hickory Hill Lane and at Melrose Lane to reduce cut‑through traffic and slow westbound traffic. Engineering staff reported daytime speeds "approaching 60 miles an hour" on the corridor and recommended traffic control on Carroll Road in both directions (side streets would not be required to stop). The board authorized advertising the stop‑sign ordinance and discussed transitional measures such as flashers and stop bars.

Public comment at the start of the meeting included a resident request for speed bumps on Marion Road. Deborah Rohrbach, who gave her address as 656 Marion Road, said cars, trucks and school buses "don’t even slow up for students, people with children and babies, kids on bikes" and asked what residents needed to do to secure speed bumps.

Ordinances and programs to be advertised

The board authorized advertising an ordinance to amend chapter 156 of the code of ordinances and adopt a new chapter 156a to incorporate the International Fire Code, a change staff said was requested by the fire chief and reviewed by the solicitor and community development department. The board also authorized advertising an ordinance to establish a volunteer service credit program that would provide property‑tax relief, earned‑income‑tax relief, or both for qualifying volunteer fire company members. Staff noted the earned income tax credit would be capped at $500; property tax relief has no statutory cap in the draft but would be limited in practice by the township’s municipal tax levels.

Water‑connection timing under review

Board members addressed the Mount Zion/Druck Valley Road mandatory hookup to York Water Company and discussed offering a 12‑month extension to property owners who received confusing prior communications from York Water. Staff and the solicitor said the ordinance currently references a six‑month hookup period counted from York Water’s letter notifying that lines are ready; the solicitor agreed amending the ordinance is a permissible course and said staff would return in January with proposed wording to advertise an amendment (a 30‑day advertisement period would allow possible February adoption).

Capital purchase approved

The board authorized the purchase of replacement playground equipment for Penn Oaks Park from MRC Inc. in an amount not to exceed $114,643 under CoStar contract 014‑E23‑316.

Votes at a glance

- Consent agenda (items a–l, except j removed for separate handling): approved by voice vote. - Authorization to advertise: International Fire Code ordinance: approved by voice vote. - Authorization to advertise: Volunteer service credit program ordinance: approved by voice vote; one member indicated they would recuse from the final vote due to volunteer fire service affiliation. - Authorization to advertise: Stop‑sign ordinance for Carroll Road at Hickory Hill Lane and Melrose Lane: approved by voice vote. - Resolution 2024‑54 (2025 municipal budget): adopted by voice vote. - Resolution 2024‑55 (2025 tax levy set at 1.5 mills): adopted by voice vote. - Resolution 2024‑56 (YAUR 2025 budget): adopted by voice vote; several board members expressed reluctance and concern about the budget’s clarity and size. - Purchase authorization: Penn Oaks playground equipment, amount not to exceed $114,643: approved by voice vote.

What’s next

Staff will draft proposed ordinance language to extend the mandatory hookup timeframe for affected properties and return with advertisement language at the January meeting; if advertised it could be considered for adoption at the board’s February meeting. The advertised ordinances (International Fire Code, volunteer service credit, Carroll Road stop signs) will proceed through required public‑advertising steps before final board action.

(Quotes in this report are taken from remarks recorded in the meeting transcript and attributed to the speakers who made them.)