Heidelberg Township supervisors have proposed a tax rate of 0.0675 mills for 2013, which will produce no significant change in tax revenue based on the new assessments.

The proposed budget was approved at a Nov. 23 meeting, and will be adopted at the board's Dec. 27 meeting.

The total budget will be $1,106,436, an increase of about 22 percent over this year.

The increase can be explained largely by an allowance for the cost of repairing the Rex Road Bridge.

Resident input was to be sought regarding the possibility of eliminating the bridge, which will have to be closed in the near future if not repaired.

The status of this process was not discussed at the meeting.

Chairman David Fink had asked earlier that state grants be pursued to fund the project.

However, this is wishful thinking, he said.

An amount of $118,376 was added for loan funds to cover this cost.

Secretary-Treasurer Janice Bortz said although the township currently has a fund balance of $216,000, none of this amount can be put into the budget as it is not revenue.

It can be used to fund the project, but another funding source must be included in the budget as it is required to balance.

However, the loan will not be taken, if it is not needed.

The amount for capital equipment rental was raised from $1,000 to $3,000 to cover the cost of renting a road roller.

Purchase of a new roller had been discussed earlier, as well as the possibility of sharing one with another township. The status of this also is uncertain at present.

One unavoidable in-crease was the cost of Workers' Compensation for the firefighters, which almost doubled from $7,688 to $15,000.

This is due to a 2011 change in state law, allowing firefighters to claim benefits for certain cancers as an occupational disease for more than 11 years after retiring from duty.

Because of this, Keystone Municipal Insurance Trust will no longer cover the firefighters, and the township had to find another insurer at a higher cost.

Health insurance will also increase by 8 percent across the board, due to a rise in premiums.

The increased expenses were partially offset by reduced costs.

Salaries and other payroll costs have been lowered by over $30,000, due to current and expected staffing changes.

Other items that were reduced include office equipment and telephone.

Fink said the office was contacted by Lynn Township regarding the possibility of sharing an administrator, now that theirs has resigned.

Supervisors agreed to arrange an executive session between the two boards to discuss this.