The township’s Board of Supervisors voted for a preliminary 2010 budget that would result in a 12.1 percent increase of real estate tax.

The average assessed property value in Easttown Township is $330,000. In 2009 an owner of a property with that assessed value would have paid $1,109 in real estate taxes. In 2010, if the preliminary version of the budget is approved, that owner would pay about $1,240.

The Board of Supervisors will approve the final 2010 budget at its Dec. 21 meeting.

If the budget is approved as proposed, the township’s millage rate would increase from the current 3.361 to 3.769 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Just under half of the 0.408 millage increase — 0.2 mills — would be dedicated to building up a fund balance, or cash reserve, to help in the case of an emergency and to help the municipality’s bond rating if it issues bonds over the next few years.

– Sam Strike, Daily Local News, November 22, 2009; http://www.dailylocal.com