Trafford holds the line on taxes for 2020

Trafford property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes for the operation of the borough’s government in 2020.

Trafford Council this week approved a general fund budget of $1.8 million for 2020, a 21% increase from the 2019 budget of $1.51 million.

Most of the additional revenue — $353,000 in unreserved net assets — came from a combination of $200,000 for the general fund and $151,000 designated for liquid fuels purposes on roads and bridges.

Real estate taxes will remain at 28.5 mills for the general fund and three mills for the debt service. The borough, which anticipates receiving $780,500 in revenue from the property tax, has not increased taxes since 2016.

The final budget that council approved Dec. 3 had not changed since it was introduced last month, said Ashley Stack, borough manager.

The budget has a new line item, a $50,000 allocation for emergencies, which will be used to pay the borough’s portion of the $145,000 demolition of the former Mellon Bank building at 501 Cavitt Ave.

Among the significant increases in expenditures planned for 2020 is a $139,000 for capital construction projects, $60,00 in police officers’ salaries, $54,000 for emergency management and communications, $31,000 in general government administration costs and $19,000 for code enforcement.

There is no increase levied by Trafford for sewage services, but residents will see a 7% increase in their bill because of charges from Alcosan, the Allegheny County sanitary sewer authority, Stack said. The minimum quarterly bill will be almost $123, Stack said.