Lower Southampton laid off 10 township employees last year, but the savings will only cover part of an anticipated seven-figure budget shortfall this year.

Lower Southampton is not ruling out a second round of employee layoffs later this year to fill a projected $1 million budget shortfall as a result of coronavirus business shutdowns.

Last month, supervisors approved eliminating 10 full-time township employees after the township saw its revenues plunge $171,000 in April compared to the previous year, according to Supervisors Chairman Ray Weldie.

… the township is anticipating a gap this year of $800,000 to $1.2 million in its $32.7 million budget meaning further cuts may be necessary, especially if there is a predicted second wave of COVID-19 later this year, Township Manager Joe Galdo said.

[Note: In comparison, Newtown Township Anticipates More Than $1.3 Million Budget Shortfall. It’s 2020 budgeted revenue is only $12 million! See http://sco.lt/54w3Si] 

Lower Southampton has not raised property taxes for the last 13 years, mostly because it has a 1% earned income tax that is now the main source of revenue for the township. [The same is true for Newtown Township.]

In December, Galdo estimated that the EIT would bring in $4.8 million to $5.5 million this year. He also projected the township will use $200,000 to $450,000 of its roughly $3 million fund balance, or reserves, to balance the 2020 budget.

The current revenue shortfall is blamed largely on EIT losses as a result of business slowdowns, closures and stay-at-home orders, officials said.

Between 14% and 18% of Lower Southampton residents are currently unemployed, according to Galdo, which has also impacted other revenue sources such as the business privilege tax.

Some Supervisors to Give Up Salaries

In an effort to help reduce costs, Weldie announced at a May 13 supervisor meeting that he returned his monthly supervisors paycheck to the township and plans to give up his supervisor salary for the rest of the year to help the township.

Supervisors Deborah Kaplan and Ed Shannon also have agreed to forfeit their supervisor salaries, which amount to $4,125 a year each before taxes, Weldie said.

Supervisor Kim Koutsouratis said Tuesday he wanted to speak to the board before making any decisions on forfeiting his salary. This news organization was not immediately successful in reaching supervisor Sue Cummings for comment.

A Lower Southampton zoning hearing for the proposed 16-pump gas station at Bristol and Brownsville roads ran late and will continue on Oct. 29.

Lower Southampton neighbors of a proposed 16-pump Wawa gas station will have to wait until at least the end of the month to know if the zoning board will give the plan a thumbs up.

Any gas station use in that area requires a special exception by the township’s zoning hearing board under the township’s ordinances, which could include certain conditions on the developer if granted.

Wednesday night was the first of what will likely become a series of zoning hearings, with about 60 people packing the meeting room at 1500 Desire Ave. and some heard murmuring out in the hall.

Only one witness was able to complete testimony and cross examination by the zoning board and other parties over the course of the three-hour meeting, and at least two more witnesses are expected to be called.

The civil engineer from Boehler Engineering, of Chalfont, generally testified the Wawa was similar to other uses in the area and would not adversely affect the area.

Julie Von Spreckelsen, an Eastburn & Gray attorney representing the developer, said her next witness would be a Wawa representative and then a traffic engineer.

Zoning Hearing Board Solicitor Tom Panzer mentioned the township itself did not send a solicitor to oppose the application.

A municipality sending its attorney to zoning hearing doesn’t typically happen unless the local governing board intends to fight the application.

Plumstead officials sent an attorney to fight a proposed Wawa at the intersection of state Route 313 and Ferry Road that was challenging the township’s zoning laws.

The Plumstead Wawa case began with the zoning hearing board early 2017, and is still fighting an appeal in the state appellate courts that would allow the gas station. [Read “Developer Wants Plumstead to Change Its Zoning to Allow More Gas Pumps to Fit the Business Plan of a Super Wawa - A Lesson for Newtown”.

A solicitor can be sent to observe a hearing as well, and a township isn’t waiving its rights to appeal the zoning board’s decision by not sending its own attorney to actively participate now.

Bucks County towns will often file appeals against their own zoning boards if elected officials think the quasi-judicious board made a mistake in its ruling.

Further Reading:

• “Let's keep Newtown Township from becoming a 'Pottersville' - Guest Opinion of John Mack”.

Lower Southampton zoning records are in such disarray that it could be expensive to perform a deeper dive into department operations than a recent, two-year review that found “irregularities,” according to a township supervisor.

The township paid Keystone $5,000 to review a sample of subdivision and land development plan files and zoning permits following the February retirement of zoning officer Carol Drioli, who headed the department for 16 years. The supervisors stated at the time Drioli’s retirement presented an opportunity to verify compliance with state building codes and identify where improvements could be made.

Keystone randomly chose seven subdivision and land development applications and 19 zoning and building permit applications between 2015 and last year, and found many contained sloppy record-keeping, including the failure to keep all building, zoning and land development records associated with a property together. The consultant also said there were misplaced or missing land development plans, missing inspector signatures, missing inspection reports, missing permit applications and “numerous” projects improperly issued permits without going through the land development approval process, which adds time and expense to a project.

[Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis] said he’s concerned about the cost of further analysis, but he also wants to know if the mistakes revealed in the Keystone report are anomalies or represent a pattern that should be looked at further, and if the township could face any liability.

“A big fear of mine is we may not ever know exactly what the damage was done to the township financially. But I do feel we just can’t sit on our hands and do absolutely nothing about it. We owe it to our residents to at least look into this further than what we already have,” he said.

Township Solicitor Francis Dillon declined to comment on if the township could be held legally liable for any deficiencies in the zoning department property files.

“I will not answer your questions. I answer to my client,” Dillon said.

A half dozen residents last month called on the board to conduct a further review of previous zoning department records following a presentation on Keystone Municipal Services’ findings.

“Our fear is that while this exercise reviewed a sampling of applications there were many applications that were not reviewed that will contain similar irregularities,” Keystone Municipal President Richard O’Brien wrote in the report.

“Permits establish a record so a township knows what ... is going on,” [Herman Slaybaugh, co-chairman of the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Education Institute] said. “If you can’t find out what you’ve done, that is pretty sloppy bookkeeping. The whole purpose of having permits is to verify a property was built in compliance. If you can’t index that and go back and find it, that was an exercise in futility.”

O’Brien told the board last month that the review didn’t find any “malfeasance.”