LOWER MERION — Lower Merion officials say the township has “hit a home run” when it comes to some of the township’s finances.
During a recent township committee meeting, Lower Merion’s director of finance and assistant director gave an updated report on the township finances.
“First, we’re going to look at 2023 financial performance, and as you can see, it was very positive when it comes to the general fund,” said Eric Traub, chief financial officer for Lower Merion. “We really hit a home run on the revenue side and hit a very solid double or maybe even you call it a triple on the expenditure side, so overall, when you look at it, a $5.3 million surplus is phenomenal work or performance for the township. Overall, we’re entering 2024 in the strongest fund balance position in at least over a decade, and that obviously provides lots of financial flexibility for the board.”
According to information provided by Traub, revenues for the township were higher than budgeted by $1.9 million.
On the other hand, expenditures were lower than budgeted by $1.1 million.
Chris Walde, assistant township director of finance, said the real estate transfer tax was up about $700,000, and the business privilege tax was up about $600,000. On a downside, although the transfer tax was up last year, the increase was still about $900,000 lower than it had been in previous years.
Walde said parking revenues have also continued to get stronger and are near the rates they were before COVID.
“On the expenditure side, lower staffing levels and open positions were the primary drivers to the lower general fund expenditures, and as Eric mentioned, the positive financial results in 2023 resulted in significant growth in the general fund balance as we are almost at $30 million at the end of 2023,” Walde said.
Walde said the township’s investment income was up by about $1.6 million, which is higher than the previous year. The increase was due to higher cash balances and increased interest rates.