Cumru Weighs $1.19M Pension Bill and Data Center Engineer

Cumru Township's commissioners meet Tuesday with two decisions that reach into the 2027 budget and the township's handling of the one large data center proposed in Berks so far. The agenda asks the board to adopt two resolutions committing $1,191,804 to employee pensions next year, and to award a contract for an outside engineering team that would review any data center application filed under the township's overlay zoning.

The board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, according to the township homepage, at the township office building, 1775 Welsh Road, Mohnton, where the township's meeting schedule says all its meetings are held. Also up for a vote: a $193,450 sewer-lining job in Flying Hills.

$1.19 million for pensions in 2027

A minimum municipal obligation, or MMO, is the amount Pennsylvania law requires a town to put into each of its employee pension plans in a given year. Cumru has two plans, and the agenda lists a draft resolution for each (p. 2): $492,034.00 for the uniformed pension, which in Pennsylvania townships generally covers police officers, and $699,770.00 for the non-uniformed pension, for other employees.

Together that is $1,191,804, by our arithmetic. The agenda gives no 2026 figures for comparison, but the township's own record does. On Sept. 16, 2025, the board voted unanimously to set the 2026 obligations at $434,186.00 for the uniformed plan and $697,915.00 for the non-uniformed plan, according to the signed minutes (pp. 4-5). Against those figures, the police pension obligation would rise $57,848, or 13.3 percent, the non-uniformed obligation $1,855, and the total $59,703, or 5.3 percent, by our arithmetic. Those 2025 minutes also note that the fire department is counted in the non-uniformed plan, so the uniformed plan is the police plan. The amounts will land in the 2027 budget, which the commissioners take up at three budget meetings in November (p. 4). Cumru's own property tax rate is 6.5 mills in 2026, per our tax-rate guide; the township sits in the Governor Mifflin School District.

An outside engineer for data centers

Under Planning, the agenda lists a "Technical Engineer for Data Centers" item for discussion and a possible vote to award the request for proposals (p. 3). It names no firm and no price.

The background is in the township's own RFP, dated Sept. 21 and labeled a draft. It seeks engineering firms "to provide independent technical review of proposed data center applications within the Data Center Overlay District" (p. 1). Proposals were due Oct. 9 to Township Manager Terrence W. James, and the cover sheet lists Oct. 20 as the anticipated authorization date.

The RFP says Cumru enacted Ordinance No. 798 on April 21, 2026, creating the overlay and making data centers a conditional use there (p. 1). The consultant would check an applicant's studies on noise, water use, electric supply and backup generators, environmental impacts, fire and battery safety, screening, and decommissioning, the plan for taking the facility down at the end of its life (pp. 2-3). The township says it will pick "the best overall value and technically defensible support, not necessarily the lowest price," and will not tie pay to whether a project is approved (p. 4).

The posted file is footed "Simplified Draft for Solicitor Review" on every page, with one bracketed field left blank; whether a final version went out is not stated.

Our report on the county's data center zoning rush described Cumru's overlay, passed 3-1 in April, as the county's first data center ordinance; our tracker later found Maxatawny Township had enacted its own six days earlier, on April 15. Our data center tracker notes that the one large data center proposed in Berks is on the former Titus Generating Station site off Poplar Neck Road in Cumru, and that as of late August no application had been filed with the township.

Sewer lining, a project closeout and new-look bills

Public Works asks the board to approve a $193,450.00 quote from Sewer Specialty Services Company, Inc. for 2026 sanitary sewer lining on Flying Hills Drive (p. 3). The company is a COSTARS vendor; COSTARS is the state's cooperative purchasing program, which lets a township buy from a pre-approved vendor without its own bid. The Municipal Authority approved the same quote Oct. 8, the agenda says.

The board would also close out the Ardmore Avenue sewer replacement with a $54,341.09 credit change order and a final $58,715.47 payment to contractor MDX Site (p. 3).

Also listed is an update on the "New Look of Sewer Bills" (p. 2); the township homepage says November bills will arrive in a letter-sized envelope marked "Invoice Enclosed."

Solar money, a rental program and two ordinances

The board is scheduled to discuss and consider approving "Solar Financing Proposals" (p. 2). The agenda gives no amounts, lenders or project details. The August agenda listed authorizing tax-exempt financing for solar projects, as our Aug. 18 preview noted.

In August the board also weighed seeking outside help to design a rental-property program. Tuesday's agenda asks it to approve a $6,380.00 proposal from Kraft Municipal Group, Inc. for "phased development" of that program (p. 2), without saying what it would require of landlords or tenants.

Two ordinances are at the advertising stage, meaning no final vote Tuesday: the final draft of a Cumru Township Public Gathering Ordinance (p. 3), and an "SMP amended ordinance" the board would advertise for a possible November enactment (p. 2). The agenda does not spell out what SMP stands for, and it does not say whether the gathering ordinance is the special-events ordinance listed in August. The commissioners would also consider a Code of Conduct resolution (p. 4), another item carried over from August.

Also on the agenda

• A Cumru Township Redevelopment Authority presentation, then votes on a 2027 Delta Development contract and a separate Delta Development contract for the RDA; no amounts are listed (p. 1).
• Estimates for a PennDOT Multimodal grant to upgrade traffic signals on state routes 222 and 724 (p. 3), and a DCNR grant award letter for $81,800.00 for the Comprehensive Recreation Plan (p. 3).
• Reaffirming approval of a revised plan for a two-story, 48-by-100-foot retail building on a 0.61-acre lot at 340 Old Lancaster Pike (p. 2), and Escrow Release No. 5, $72,395.94, to the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (p. 3).
• Minutes of the Sept. 15 and Sept. 29 meetings (p. 1). The trash contract our August preview followed was re-bid: bids were opened Sept. 25, and the Sept. 29 agenda listed the results and a vote to award, with Good's Disposal Service the low bidder for mechanical refuse collection, about 4,690 homes outside Flying Hills, at $849,241 (p. 1); that agenda does not say whether the figures are annual or for the full term. The award is not on Tuesday's agenda, and the township's posted minutes end at April 21, 2026, so the outcome is not yet in any posted record.
• Presentations from the Governor Mifflin Library and Matos Towing & Recovery; updates on FEMA grants, Welsh Road paving and leaf collection; and an executive session on litigation and personnel.

How to attend

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 1775 Welsh Road, Mohnton. Public comment is in person only; speakers must give a first and last name and address and keep to three minutes, and the comment period is capped at 60 minutes unless the commissioners extend it (p. 1). The township office is at 610-777-1343.

What comes next: the Zoning Hearing Board's Oct. 27 meeting is canceled for lack of applications. The Planning Commission meets Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. The commissioners hold budget meetings Nov. 5, 12 and 19 at 6 p.m., and their next regular meeting is Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. (p. 4).