How's the Newtown Township Financial Garden Doing?

Budget season is upon us! The draft 2019 budget is currently being worked on by Newtown Township officials and will be presented to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) for discussion at a public meeting later this month. The public, as always, is invited to attend this meeting. Refer to the Events calendar to find out when this meeting is scheduled.

Meanwhile, two financial reports were presented to the BOS at the September 26, 2018, public meeting:

2017 Audit Report
Newtown Township Finance Committee Report

The 2017 Audit Report

Edward Furman, a partner at Maillie, LLC, presented a summary of the 2017 audit to the Newtown Board of Supervisors at the September 26, 2018, public meeting. Furman's opinion can be summed up thusly: "As long as non-resident Earned Income Taxes are not severed, all is well in the Newtown Township financial garden."

Some Data

The following table is a summary of the 2017 Government Funds Revenue vs. Expenditures as reported in the 2017 Annual Audit.

Finance Committee Report

Jack Brod, Chair of the Newtown Township Finance Committee (NTFC), presented the Committee's first-ever report to the Newtown Board of Supervisors. The major point made by the NTFC is that the Township is "rapidly approaching [a] fiscal precipice." Some recommendations made by the Committee include the need for benchmarking, implementation of a multi-year planning and budgeting cycle, and increased public education and awareness of the Township's financial issues.

The Committee's Report

The September 20, 2018, report is based on a preliminary and limited analysis of Township budgets and financial documents by committee members. It represents the Committee's first attempt to identify:

potential fiscal issues and concerns;
needed benchmarking of township services, staffing, income and expenditures against other municipal governments and accepted standards; (3) possible implications of the fiscal issues we have estimated; and
initial recommendations for future consideration and actions.

Download the complete report here.

Posted on 01 Oct 2018, 10:51 - Category: Finances