Cumru Township's 23% Tax Hike: A Failure Years in the Making

The 23% tax increase was engineered by years of fiscal malpractice: $10M in lost valuations, $13M fire department unionized, reserves bled dry, and every revenue source rejected. This was not misfortune — it was policy.

CUMRU TOWNSHIP'S 23% TAX HIKE A Failure Years in the Making For years, Cumru Township residents have been fed the same tired excuse: "We had no choice. The increase was unavoidable. It's just the economy." That excuse has collapsed under its own weight. The 23% tax increase approved for 2026 did not fall from the sky. It was built — slowly, deliberately, and predictably — by a pattern of fiscal neglect, rejected development, and reckless spending decisions. THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE $10 MILLION in assessed valuation lost since 2019 $3 MILLION vanished in 2025 alone $2.2 MILLION in reserves deliberately drained $13 MILLION committed to fire department — then unionized Assessments are still based on a 1994 county study . Thirty years outdated. Wildly disconnected from reality. This isn't just incompetence. It's negligent governance. THEY REJECTED REVENUE. YOU PAY THE PRICE. For years, Cumru Township leadership didn't just fail to attract development — they actively voted it down. Warehouses? NO. Commercial projects? NO. Business development? NO. By voting NO on growth, the Township guaranteed: No expansion of the tax base No offset to rising costs No relief for homeowners You cannot block business, reject economic growth, and then act surprised when taxes skyrocket. That is not principled governance — it is fiscal malpractice. THE RESERVES WERE BLED DRY — KNOWINGLY Between 2021 and 2024, Cumru approved budgets with known, planned deficits . General fund balance: $5.7M → $3.5M $3.5 million is the bare minimum auditors will tolerate. That reserve was not "spent unexpectedly." It was consumed by design . By 2026, there was nothing left to absorb the blow. Taxes weren't raised as a last resort — they were raised because leadership had already used every other option. $13 MILLION FIRE DEPARTMENT — THEN UNIONIZED No one disputes the importance of fire protection. But good intentions do not balance budgets. Cumru committed to a $13 million fire department investment — then allowed it to unionize in 2025 , instantly locking taxpayers into: Permanent payroll obligations Escalating benefits and pension liabilities Contractual wage growth with no ceiling Zero budget flexibility Approving $13 million in spending while voting NO on every revenue source is the height of financial contradiction. THE ELECTION THAT SEALED YOUR FATE Voters were warned. The signs were everywhere: Shrinking tax base Reserves drained Spending locked in Revenue rejected Yet the election passed with leadership unchanged. The same anti-growth mindset was rewarded. "Keep doing what you're doing." Now residents are seeing exactly what that vote bought them. This 23% tax increase is not the end. It is the beginning. THE NEXT HIT: GOVERNOR MIFFLIN SCHOOL TAXES If Cumru residents think this pain ends here, they're fooling themselves. Hanging over this same year: rising Governor Mifflin School District property taxes. And the pattern is disturbingly familiar. Many of the same people, same political alliances, and same mindset running Cumru are also running Governor Mifflin. Different buildings. Different titles. Same results. Cumru's 23% tax increase is the warning shot. Governor Mifflin's rising school taxes are the next chapter. THE BOTTOM LINE This was not misfortune. This was not bad timing. This was not inflation. This was a deliberate policy choice, ratified at the ballot box. And unless voters demand a hard course correction — growth, fiscal discipline, and accountability — the Township will keep doing what it does best: Protect ideology. Expand government. Send homeowners the bill.