On Dec. 19 Chestnuthill Township supervisors are planning on adopting the 2018 operating budget. The proposed budget, which was approved for advertisement on Tuesday evening includes a 2.25-mill tax increase. The 2.25 mills will be used to fund an infrastructure account.

Residents will be paying a total of 8.7 mills in taxes. Of that, 4.98 mills will be used for municipal and general accounts as well as the road department’s regular expenses. A 1.47-mill dedicated fire tax will be used for the West End Fire Company and the 2.25 mills will be used for major bridge and culvert repairs.

“Anytime we have to raise taxes it is agonizing,” said Chairman Chuck Gould. “But if there is anything we learned from PennDOT’s experience, it is that we need to start looking at our bridges now. We know that bridges are going to go bad.”

There are five major bridge/culvert projects that have been identified as being in need of repair or replacement according to township Manager Dave Albright.

• Silver Valley Bridge

• Lake Mineola Phase IV re-alignment

• Pheasant Run Culvert

• County Park Culvert

• Camp Alice Culvert

The closure of Toll Road is also expected to be paid for out of this fund, although the township has not yet decided on a final plan for the road.

The projects listed here are expected to cost nearly $6 million in construction costs alone, Albright said.

“We are hoping to use bundling of projects to save money,” Albright said. “By engineering, planning and bidding the projects together, similar to the PennDOT bridge projects, we hope to get better pricing.”

Albright added that by being proactive and securing the funding through the tax increase, the township should be in a better position to leverage grant money to help assist in paying for the projects making the overall burden on the township less.

The 2018 proposed budget will be available on the township website by Nov. 22 along with a detailed PowerPoint presentation.

Albright explained that the 2.25 mills will result in approximately a $50 per year increase for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

The supervisors want to encourage residents to take a good look at the budget and to feel free to call or email the township with any questions or suggestions that they might have about it. The budget will be voted on at the Dec. 19 board of supervisors meeting.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m.