Amity Budget Seeks EMS Tax Hike; Sewer Rate Rises to $236

Amity Township homeowners would pay more for ambulance service in 2027 under the proposed budget Township Manager Troy S. Bingaman handed the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7, and a typical home's sewer bill rises to $236 a quarter on Jan. 1 under a rate schedule the board projected in 2024 and wrote into its 2026 fee schedule. The Oct. 7 minutes, posted Thursday, Oct. 22, are the first public record of the budget. The general fund, the township's main operating account, "is stable, and no general millage adjustment is needed," Bingaman said (p. 2). A mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of assessed value; our property tax guide explains Berks assessments.

The board took no vote. Bingaman "will be asking for permission to advertise in November. The budget must sit for 20 days and will be on the agenda for adoption in December" (p. 4).

The EMS tax: .275 to .331 mills

The EMS tax is a separate property tax for ambulance service. It "has been set at .275 mil, which equates to $27.50 per $100K assessed value," with no increase "in the 3 years that TowerDIRECT has provided services" (p. 2). The proposed budget "included a bump of .056 from .275 to .331 for the EMS Tax which gets the contribution to approximately $240K" (p. 2). By our arithmetic from that rate, .331 mills is $33.10 per $100,000 of assessed value, $5.60 more than now, about a 20 percent rate increase. The current rate has brought in $195,589.00 so far this year (p. 2).

Brad Cosgrove of TowerDIRECT told the board a call costs about $775 to run without municipal contributions. The minutes then record him saying: "With average revenues fiscal year 2026, the cost was $400.00 per contact, and with municipal contributions globally, not just with Amity, the cost was approximately $470.00" (p. 2). He and Bingaman have discussed a second truck with extended hours, TowerDIRECT "is revamping the contract with the Township and will be presenting a red-lined version," and "the 'go live' date for the new billing company is December 1st" (p. 2).

The $240,000 is roughly 4,700 households times $50, Bingaman said, and "much less than what Western Berks proposed 3 years ago" (p. 3). Chairperson Kim McGrath said 3 percent a year for the past three years "would still be less than what is being proposed" (p. 3); no supervisor is recorded opposing it.

When resident Richard Cooper noted EMS also collects insurance payments, Cosgrove said "balance billing," charging patients what insurance leaves unpaid, "is negated for all Amity Township residents, the Township pays for coverage of all residents" (p. 3).

The rest of the budget

General fund expenses rise $212,000, "mostly due to personnel wages and benefits," and 2027 has 27 pay periods (p. 3). The budget counts on more real-estate tax "in anticipation of" Scottish Hollow, Arbour Green and Leaf Creek Farm being added to the township's assessed value. Earned income tax, the tax on residents' wages, is running 5.8 percent over budget; the 2027 budget assumes 3 percent growth (p. 3). Other lines Bingaman walked through, from p. 3 unless noted:

• The Daniel Boone Library asked for $52,000 to $67,000; the budget gives $50,000, a $5,000 bump.
• The fire tax is .55 mills, down from .65 in 2019 "when the radio fund was paid in full," and each fire company gets $124,000.
• The county radio upgrade "will cost $248K for the fire companies if paid in one year," or a payment plan at "what we understand could be a 4% interest rate"; an LSA grant, state casino-revenue money, is possible (pp. 3-4).
• Liquid Fuels, the state's gas-tax road money, leaves about $300,000 for 2027 paving.
• The transfer to the capital fund "will be much smaller," and more park maintenance moves to the recreation fund in "the last year of debt service."

Sewer bills: $236 a quarter from Jan. 1

Bingaman said "the rate increase of $236.00/quarter on January 1, 2027 is necessary and hopes to pause rate increases, thereafter," to pay down debt from the plant expansion; "a resolution was previously adopted outlining the Sewer Rates increases through 2027" (p. 3). The minutes do not give the current rate. Resolution 24-06, adopted June 19, 2024, adopted "projected quarterly sewer rates" of $171 for 2025, $201 for 2026 and $236 for 2027, and the 2026 fee schedule, Resolution 26-08 of May 20, 2026, lists $201 for 2026 and $236 for 2027 per EDU (p. 7), "as amended from time-to-time by Resolution of the Board of Supervisors." An EDU, or equivalent dwelling unit, is one typical home; owners of multiple units pay more, and commercial customers are billed by meter readings (Oct. 7 minutes, p. 5). For one EDU the change is $35 a quarter, or $140 a year, by our arithmetic.

A second-year resident asked about rising bills. Supervisor Terry Jones said the money covers debt service on "the $34.5M upgrades and expansion of the WWTP," the wastewater treatment plant; Bingaman said all residents pay the same "unless they have multiple units"; McGrath said other municipalities served by the plant also pay (p. 5).

Other Oct. 7 actions

The board voted 5-0 on each of these, per the minutes' pages 1, 2 and 4:

• J. Lynn Weddings' municipal improvements and financial security agreements, conditioned on final approval by Brian Boland of Kozloff Stoudt Attorneys (p. 2).
• Sold the 2014 Ford Taurus for $3,250, the highest of 27 bids on MuniciBid (p. 2).
• Resolution 26-21, distributing $460,980 to the two pension plans: $340,226.10 in state aid plus $120,753.90 from the township (p. 4).
• Two Motorola APX6000 radios for emergency management, not to exceed $13,326.84 (p. 4).
• Brian Mendez hired as a probationary police officer effective Oct. 19 at Step 1 (p. 4).
• Disbursements of $316,138.53 (p. 1).

Without a recorded vote, the board "agreed to hold the Public Hearing on November 18th at 6:30PM" on a sign-ordinance amendment (p. 4); the Sept. 16 minutes describe it as "removing definitions to permit movement and phasing on electronic signs" (p. 2).

Vice Chair Kevin Keifrider reported the Mauger and Redners properties "closed for approximately $17M," with the township getting half of the 1% transfer tax; the minutes give no figure, and half of 1 percent of $17 million is about $85,000, by our arithmetic. DFT sold the Route 422 strip mall "where Subway was" for about $1.8 million (p. 5).

Sept. 16, now in the written record

The Sept. 16 minutes, posted the same day, fill in the data-center freeze we reported from the signed resolution. Resolution 26-19, "initiating a Curative Amendment to address the failure of the Zoning Ordinance to provide for Data Center Uses and impose a temporary stay for a period of not to exceed 6 months," passed unanimously on Keifrider's motion, seconded by Nate Halter (p. 3). New in the minutes: asked by McGrath whether any data-center applications are pending, Boland "confirmed there were none," and he will provide a sample "Voluntary Community Benefit Agreement" other municipalities use (p. 3). Amity's row on our data-center tracker sits alongside the other Berks municipalities writing data-center rules.

Also Sept. 16, all 5-0 unless noted:

• The 2027 minimum municipal obligations, the pension payments state law requires: police $279,778, non-uniform $223,662 (p. 6).
• Treatment-plant payments: Performance Construction $389,311.37; Brendan Stanton, Inc. $207,800.00; Vision Mechanical $22,971.80; Myco Mechanical $4,875.00 (p. 4).
• The LSA grant request for Rosewood Drive storm and sanitary sewer replacement failed (p. 6).
• The 20-year-old vactor truck is out of service; about $500,000 is in the 2027 capital budget for a Hydrovac (p. 4).
• Check #90404, $9,967.90, passed 4-0-1: "Mr. Keifrider abstained, as the payment to Commerce Bank included payment to Lucky Squirrel for unpaid invoices from 2024 and 2025. Lucky Squirrel was a family-owned business" (p. 2).

Oct. 21: two ordinances enacted, minutes not posted

Two ordinances were "duly enacted and ordained" Oct. 21, per the signed copies. Ordinance 355 allows hunting on park grounds only on Monocacy Hill, by township residents with a free permit, and now lets non-residents hunt with a permit "conditioned upon completion of eight (8) hours of volunteer work within the Monocacy Hill Recreation Area per year"; permits require a Pennsylvania hunting license and an applicant 18 or older, though a parent may obtain one for an accompanied minor (ord. 355, pp. 1-2). Ordinance 354 adds stop signs on Nicholson Avenue at Briarwood Drive, eastbound and westbound (ord. 354, p. 1). The record on that intersection does not line up. On Sept. 16 the township engineer told the board a four-way stop would need a traffic study and that traffic there "likely would not meet the volume requirement to do so," and the board voted to advertise an ordinance amendment to "move the stop sign on Briarwood Drive to Nicholson" (Sept. 16 minutes, p. 5). On Oct. 7 Keifrider reported he had "placed 4-way stops at Nicholson Avenue and Briarwood Drive" (Oct. 7 minutes, p. 4), and the ordinance adds the two Nicholson stops without removing Briarwood's.

The Oct. 21 minutes are not posted, so the rest of that agenda, including a 2026 Kenworth Vactor truck purchase and the plant's work change directives #15 and #16, has no recorded outcome.

Sources and contact

The board "meets the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM," with first-Wednesday workshops "only held as needed," per its board page; the Oct. 7 meeting was one Bingaman asked for to discuss the budget (Sept. 16 minutes, p. 6). Township building: 2004 Weavertown Road, Douglassville; 610-689-6000, per the township website. Supervisors: Chairperson Kim McGrath, Vice Chair Kevin Keifrider, Paul Weller, Terry Jones and Nate Halter; staff Oct. 7: Manager Troy S. Bingaman, Police Chief Jeffrey Smith and Secretary Pamela Kisch (minutes, p. 1). The minutes and ordinances are image scans, posted on the township's agendas and minutes page.