Jack Negley
BUCK CREEK TOWNSHIP – Nearly a year after the county bailed Buck Creek Township out of a shortfall that would’ve resulted in a pay cut for firefighters, the township is in a much better financial standing as it heads toward 2023.
A contributing factor to that improvement is the township’s climbing assessed value, said Michael Bell, a staff accountant with Reedy Financial Group, which the township contracts for financial advice. At a Buck Creek Township Advisory Board meeting earlier this month, he referred to the three-year growth appeal taxing units can apply for when their three-year average of assessed value is greater than the state’s three-year average of assessed value by over 2%.
Bell noted this was the first year the township qualified for the appeal, which will increase the maximum levy for its fire service by nearly $112,000 in the 2023 budget.
“What this does is – because of the large assessed value growth over the last three years or so that Buck Creek has seen – instead of that decreasing the tax rate in the township, this kind of tries at least to keep it somewhat level and up instead of driving the tax rate really drastically down,” Bell said. “By doing this, it helped us fund this budget and look at the other streams on how the budget might be able to occur going forward.”
Buck Creek Township has received the bulk of western Hancock County’s recent warehouse boom. Property value assessments throughout the county also rose significantly this year, particularly residential ones.
The township is applying a large portion of the funds generated by the growth appeal to raises for employees, which are mostly made up of members of the fire department. Employees will get a 4.95% increase to their base pay next year.
Bell also pointed to a population levy appeal the township qualified for that increased its maximum levy for fire service by over $326,000 due to a rise in population from 2010 to 2020. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township went from 8,430 residents to 9,304 between both headcounts.
Both successful appeals are on top of the 5% the state is allowing all taxing units to grow their property tax levies by for 2023, Bell continued.
Additionally, the township is seeing an increase in local income taxes of over $100,000.
Next year’s budget even projects a surplus of $20,000, which township trustee Jack Negley noted can be used for overtime and other unforeseen expenses.
“We got very, very fortunate with the amount of revenue that we’re capturing now for the township,” Negley said. “And I think we’re putting it together all where it’s needed.”
Micki Simunek will inherit that budget, as she defeated Negley in May’s Republican primary and is uncontested in the upcoming general election.
It follows last year’s struggles amid preparing 2022 numbers, when township leaders realized the township wouldn’t be able to cover a portion of firefighters’ pension fund commitment and initially placed that expense on the firefighters. After responding to a record number of calls in 2021, firefighters went from expecting a raise to a pay cut. The Hancock County Council appropriated $83,000 in January 2022 to make up the shortfall, however, preserving firefighters’ raises.
