Whitehall residents once again will be spared a tax increase.

Whitehall Township Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. rolled out the $19.6 million 2013 preliminary budget at a press conference Friday at the municipal building.

Hozza looked back five years ago when the recession began, gripping the nation and communities such as Whitehall, to the present where the recovery is taking hold.

One positive in the budget is the 2013 anticipated $2,766,000 general fund balance which will cover expenses for the first quarter of next year. This year, the township had to borrow money from a bank to meet its payroll and other expenses until tax funds began arriving.

Hozza said the major streams of revenue are $6.1 million from real estate taxes, $4.9 million in earned income taxes, $2.4 million in garbage fees and $1.6 million in business privilege taxes.

The projected revenue, Hozza said, will support the new millage rate, estimated to be between 2.7 and 3.0 mills. The change from the township's 2012 millage rate of 8.95 mills results from the Lehigh County reassessment.

"The actual millage rate will not be finalized until Lehigh County releases the completed township 2013 reassessed real estate values," Hozza said, emphasizing township property taxes will not be raised.

"Five years ago, the Great Recession began, caused by the near collapse of our banking institutions and the subprime mortgage debacle. Due to the residential housing slump, and commercial real estate appeals, our township government had to make tough decisions as to our revenues, employment levels, capital improvement obligations and every facet of our day-to-day operations. Our elected federal government officials are now debating how to balance spending cuts with increasing revenues," Hozza said.

"We have been doing the same over the last five years. Preparing our budget in Whitehall over the last 12 years was made more difficult by the number of commercial property appeals we had to contend with. Thanks to the Lehigh County Reassessment that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, we envision more stability in our commercial real estate valuations over the next five years. The days of yearly commercial property assessment appeals to the detriment of our tax base should be over," Hozza said.

Crediting Deputy Mayor Jack Meyers and bureau chiefs with formulating the proposed budget, the spending plan now goes to the Board of Commissioners for hearings at the end of the month. A vote will take place in December.

Hozza said the number of township employee will remain stable at 114 positions.

Meyers added that the future is looking brighter. In 2017 as the township debt service will be cut sharply from what it now.

"Revenues are as close to expenditures as they've been in the last 10 years. Part of our problem here is that we were living off whatever our balance was and spending that down, and we got into a bind the last couple of years," Meyers said.

Looking ahead, the budget to go to the commissioners will have a $620,000 capital reserve fund, an increase of $240,000, or 63 percent, from its present amount.

The Bureau of Police's $4.7 million budget is up 2.9 percent, mostly because of contracted salary raises.

The Public Works $5,528,429 budget, which increased by 5.51 percent, includes seven street reconstruction projects and a federal CDBG repaving project.