West Chester Township unveils cautious 2026 budget, transfers $600,000 to PIE fund

Lisa Brown, the township finance lead, presented the West Chester Township Board of Trustees' 2026 operational budget on the organization's priorities and revenue outlook. "The 2026 operational budget is 6.26% higher than the budget in 2025, controlling for inflation. That is an increase of 3.56%," Brown told trustees, emphasizing a strategy of conservative budgeting while maintaining reserves and enabling targeted investments.

Brown said the budget reflects constraints from state property-tax reform enacted in late 2025 and a new authority granted to the budget commission to reduce baseline revenues, so the administration is planning for flatter long-term revenues while using available surplus for community amenities and infrastructure. "It's the community's money," Brown said, framing a transparency goal for how the township explains spending to residents.

The administration proposed a one-time $600,000 transfer from the general fund to the Public Information and Engagement (PIE) Fund to stabilize operations after several years of carryover declines. Brown noted the PIE Fund carryover dropped from $1,069,000 in 2020 to $167,531 in 2025 after some expenses were shifted into PIE. She said the transfer will support community events, a website revision, and other transparency platforms while staff develops a three- to five-year forecast for non-levy funds.

Brown also pointed to healthy general-fund carryover balances and said the township will review how much reserve is prudent versus how much could be directed to community projects. On the capital side, she said some projects are in the operational budget while higher-ticket capital items live in the five-year capital improvement plan (CIP). The township has contracted with a private sports-facility company to manage the West Chester Baseball complex; Brown said the board will hold a work session in early March to review the vendor's business plan and pro forma before amending the 2026 budget for any expected operating revenues or expenses.

The presentation included a breakdown of revenue sources: property tax remains the largest funding source, personnel costs make up roughly 67.84% of expenditures (salary and benefits combined), and non-property revenues include income-tax and interest income, EMS billing and the permissive hotel tax. Brown said the local-government slice of sales tax revenue that flows to the township is small (about 2.1% of total revenue) and has been relatively flat since state cuts several years ago.

Next steps: trustees asked for a public presentation of road and construction plans after the Butler County Engineer meeting in February so residents can see upcoming projects and timelines. The board will continue the forecasting work this year and return to the trustees with more detailed multi-year projections.