The Butler Township commissioners on Monday adopted a $7.5 million budget that does not include a tax increase for 2021.

The commissioners also voted unanimously to approve the real property tax ordinance, which maintains the current 11.25-mill tax rate, and an Act 511 tax resolution, which maintains the current mercantile, earned income, real estate transfer, local service and per capita taxes.

A 5.9% projected decline in revenue from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the budget, said Tom Knights, township manager.

He said the township is anticipating a 15% reduction in revenue from business privilege and mercantile taxes, a 7% drop in local service tax revenue, and a $170,000 decline in Act 13 Marcellus shale impact fee revenue.

The budget is about $473,380 less than the 2020 budget.

Purchases totaling $197,772 for two new police vehicles, a public street department dump truck and a vehicle for the code enforcement office are included in the budget, Knights said.

The reduced budget does not contain money for stormwater projects. Knights said he will look for grants to pay for stormwater projects next year, but the projects might have to be put off until 2022 if grant money isn't secured.

The tax ordinance allocates 7.64 mills for general purposes, 2 mills for fire protection and 1.61 mills for debt service

Dave Zarnick, president of the commissioners, said it has been at least 10 years since the last real estate tax increase.

“Everything that happened this year will hit Butler Township next year,” Zarnick said, referring to business shut downs and layoffs caused by the pandemic.

In other business, the commissioners said they will contribute $21,700, or 5%, of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocation the township will receive from the county by the end of the year to the countywide effort to give $100 gift cards to restaurant and hospitality workers who are out of jobs due to the state's latest pandemic mitigation orders requiring restaurants and some other businesses to close until Jan. 4.The effort was announced Monday and 720 people signed up for the gift cards that day, Knights said.Commissioners thanked residents for donating food and money to the township's food drive for township residents in need of assistance, and thanked employees and students from Butler Area School District for helping to distribute the food Saturday at the municipal building.

Commissioner Joseph Wiest said the township has spent $70,000 on plowing and salting roads after three snowstorms in December. He said workers spread 700 tons of salt to keep roads clear.Commissioners asked residents to clean snow from fire hydrants in their yards so they can be easily reached by fire fighters.