I received a forwarded email the other day that was the Greater Philadelphia Bicycle News from BicycleCoalition.org that alerted me to a story regarding the proposed county budget that eliminates several funding for Parks & Recreation and the Planning Commission and reduces funding for almost every other program, department, etc.  Below is the press release from the county that was released on November 30th:

Montgomery County Commissioners Introduce No Tax Increase Budget for 2012

NORRISTOWN — Montgomery County unveiled a $389.33 million budget for 2012 Wednesday that calls for no tax increase that would, if adopted, include drastic cuts to numerous programs and services.

The proposed budget would maintain taxes at the same level for the fifth year in a row, still five percent less than what homeowners were paying on the county portion of their real estate taxes in 2002.

It would also slash spending for a fourth year in a row, but it would eliminate some departments entirely, cut spending in almost all others, resulting in hundreds of layoffs, and reduce or eliminate funding to numerous agencies that provide services to County residents.

The proposed budget, as introduced, is merely a starting point for purposes of discussion. A public hearing on it is scheduled for the Commissioners next meeting on December 7th at 10 a.m. and a final adoption vote is scheduled for December 21st at 10 a.m.

The proposed budget would eliminate $2.3 million in funding for the Montgomery County/Norristown Library and reduce the Montgomery County Community College’s funding by $2.5 million.

It also calls for eliminating the County Parks and Heritage Services and Planning departments entirely for a combined $7.7 million reduction in expenditures and reducing the Court House Security and Sheriff’s departments budgets by $1 million and providing no pay increase for County employees for the third year in a row.

Under the proposed budget, the owner of a home assessed at the county average of $168,850 would continue to pay $455.05 for the county portion of their real estate taxes next year.

The tax rate for the County portion of residents’ real estate taxes will remain 2.695 mills. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Taxes are lower in Montgomery County for properties of equal market value than in any of the neighboring counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania and among the lowest in the state.

Residents of Montgomery County pay $156 in county taxes on their properties for every $100,000 in market value. That compares to $221 per $100,000 in market value for Chester County, $247 in Bucks County and $350 in Delaware County.