Finance director outlines revenue estimates; property tax growth tied to new construction

The township's finance director, Susan, presented general-fund revenue estimates and the methodology staff used to forecast property-tax receipts and other revenues for the coming fiscal years.

"We took a look back at the previous five years of actuals and then added in our projected for this year," Susan said, explaining that staff combine taxable-value calculations with projected new construction and apply the Headlee rollback factor when estimating tax-rate impacts. She said property-tax revenue has trended up because some new construction came fully onto the roll this year.

Susan also said state-shared revenue projections issued in January reduced an earlier estimate: staff adjusted an expected 2% decrease to roughly a 1% decrease after the state updated its outlook. Other revenue lines discussed included administration and developer engineering fees recognized under recent GASB guidance; Susan noted cable franchise fees are falling due to cord-cutting trends and that staff will monitor proposed federal legislation on broadband deployment for possible downstream effects on franchise arrangements.

Board members asked clarifying questions about millage rollback mechanics and how a reset to prior millage levels would affect long-term revenue; Susan said a reset would require board action and is generally considered only if the township reaches build-out.