LOWER MERION — Lower Merion Township officials took their first steps toward publicly shaping the township’s 2026 capital budget recently, with a public workshop that previewed more than $54 million in proposed spending on projects.
“The Township has an extensive list of capital projects again for 2026 totaling $54.8 million in Township, ARP, other grant, State Liquid Fuels and utility contribution funds which again is similar to the 2025 CIP budget,” according to the township manager’s memorandum to the commissioners. “The CIP has been inflated beyond historical levels from 2022 through the projected 2026 CIP. This is because a number of projects were deferred due to COVID in 2020 and 2021 which impacted the 2022 and 2023 CIP totals. More significantly the 2024, 2025 adopted and 2026 projected CIP totals are significantly inflated because of the federal ARP funding, allowing many projects to proceed that would normally have been spread over multiple years and because construction pricing has been sharply inflated over the last five years since COVID.”
Lower Merion officials hold an annual workshop in late June for the commissioners to review the township’s staff’s recommendations on capital improvement projects for the upcoming year.
The workshop also enables the commissioners to continue give input to the CIP.
“Tonight is part of our budget cycle, and it’s really the beginning of the 2026 budget process,” Commissioner Scott Zelov said. “Here we are, six months away from 2026, but in a public workshop, we’re going to talk about the capital budget. At the end of the summer, on September 3rd, we’re going to do the same thing for the operating budget, and then we’re going to get from our management team, who will have spent much time between now and the end of October on a capital improvement plan that they will present to us and an operating budget that they will present to us but our input tonight our input in September and our input in these next four months is a key part of the process.”
Zelov said that since the meeting is considered a board workshop and there are no votes. The public is welcome, but board does not accept public comments during that meeting. However, residents are still free to contact their commissioners.
Ernie McNeely, township manager, said although the CIP looks out several years, it’s only the one for 2026 that has predictable numbers. The further out the budget goes, the more difficult it is to figure out project priorities and project costs.
“I always like to remind that it’s only the first year of the CIP, so 2026 is the only year that’s an actual budget,” McNeely said. “The rest of it, the other five years, as Commissioner Zelov mentioned, is a plan, and the further you get out into that plan, the less accurate the numbers really become, because the further you get out, we just can’t budget accurately that far out.”
McNeely said the staff is not asking the commissioners to make any decisions as part of the workshop. Instead, they are looking for direction from the board.
Originally Published: July 7, 2025 at 9:19 AM EDT