ADAMS TWP — A budget meeting Thursday evening gave a preliminary look at what next year's budget may include for Adams Township. There is no tax increase at this time.

The process for the 2021 budget thus far has been highly documented and included input from all levels of township administration, according to supervisor chairman Russell Ford.

He indicated this should lead to smoother budget planning next year and beyond.

“We spent hours upon hours on this,” Ford said. “We're at a deficit. But we got a lot of wiggle room.”

A preliminary look at expenses estimates the township faces roughly $8.14 million in costs.

Among other things, this includes about $2.3 million for the police department; $3.183 million for public safety; $1 million for public works and $1.336 million for parks and recreation.

Revenues at this point are budgeted at about $7.4 million.

Township leaders are projecting about $6.4 million will come in through various taxes next year. This breaks down into roughly $807,000 in real estate tax and $5.6 million in revenues through the Local Tax Enabling Act.

These numbers continue to be worked on, according to Ford and township manager Gary Peaco.

The budget at this point is looking at a deficit of about $750,000. The township may be able to cover this when end-of-year numbers and potential savings surpluses are finalized.

“We're going to keep refining,” Ford said. “We're in a good place, but we're not where we need to be yet.”

“This is a huge step,” Peaco said.

The township is starting to budget ahead for big projects, according to Ford. This includes earmarking money from individual line items for specific plans.

Ford said this will help supervisors see where money is allocated.

“Once we have this put in place, we know exactly what we got,” Ford said. “We're going to break it out.”

Adams Township has dealt with a number of challenges this year, including the pandemic and the deaths of three former or current township supervisors or employees.

Despite these obstacles, Ford said the township has come close to meeting five major goals supervisors set in January.

These were completing the Three Degree Road turnback project, establishing a better place for the public works department, finalizing the township police contract, finalizing the acquisition of the Wygal property and researching public interest in a community recreation center.

“I'm pretty sure we've hit them all,” Ford said. “Everybody's pulling it together and moving it forward.”

The preliminary 2021 budget was approved with no tax increase. Supervisors Linda Lees and Edward Vogel were not present for the vote.

Supervisors plan to vote on the final 2021 budget at a meeting scheduled for 8 a.m. Dec. 22.