Montgomery County Commissioners Adopt No Tax Increase Budget for 2011

The Montgomery County Commissioners adopted a $403.95 million budget with no tax increase for 2011.

The owner of a home assessed at $168,580, the county average, will continue to pay $454.32 for the county portion of their real estate taxes next year.

The tax rate for the County portion of residents’ real estate taxes will remain 2.695 mills. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.

In fact, the 2011 budget maintains the same tax rate for four years in a row and one that is 5 percent less than homeowners were paying on the county portion of their real estate taxes in 2002.

The Commissioners voted 2-1 to approve the spending plan. Commissioners Chairman Jim Matthews and Vice Chairman Joseph Hoeffel voted in favor. Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr. voted against.

The budget reflects a $3.75 million reduction in expenditures that was accomplished by cutting expenditures in nearly every department.

The budget is funded in part through a $15.5 million fund balance appropriation.  The fund balance is essentially an emergency reserve fund that, through careful monitoring of spending and cost cutting, the County will maintain at $24.5 million in 2011.