County property taxes last rose in 2020 under the previous Administration, according to James O’Malley, county spokesperson, who indicated the new two-mill tax increase is expected to raise nearly $17 million annually and enable elimination of the long-running deficit.

“The hike in 2020 wasn’t enough to erase the deficit,” he said. “The new increase is in line with findings from the county’s 2020 bipartisan Transition Team Report, which recommended a two-mill increase as a way to stabilize the county’s finances.”

The new budget was adopted in a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Chair Bob Harvie and Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia voting in favor of the full budget package, as recommended to the commissioners by Chief Financial Officer Dave Boscola.

Commissioner Secretary Gene DiGirolamo voted against the budget as well as the tax, millage, and fee schedules. He voted in favor of appropriations to County agencies and authorities.

The modest tax increase that was approved, coupled with the county’s decreasing debt obligations, should remove the need for more tax hikes and stabilize finances at least through the end of the decade, said Marseglia.

“We tried for a couple years to not deal with the deficit during COVID, because we knew people were stretched and they couldn’t afford to have a tax increase,” she said. “Everybody knows we have a structural deficit. Everybody knows where it came from. We have the lowest debt ratio in the collar counties, and I believe we have done a really good job to keep this under $1.20 per week.”

The new budget is a 6.2 percent increase over 2023. In keeping with previous years, the bulk of the new allotments – about 75 percent – are earmarked for departments providing public safety, public health services, mental health services and social services programs.

Harvie said the previous Administration patched budget gaps using the reserve fund – a practice the current Administration ended in the “interest of fiscal responsibility,” said O’Malley – and that today, the fund is as low as it can go without risking a credit rating downgrade.

In April, Rankin took the plunge, launching her Doylestown-based business, Rankin Bookkeeping Solutions, and has since lost count of how many clients she has onboarded.

“It’s really important to me that people understand that the biggest thing you can do is face your fears and not limit yourself,” said Rankin, who has more than 20 years of experience in the field. “To create a company and be successful in knowing that 22 years of experience does mean something.”

Rankin began mentoring with SCORE Bucks County volunteer Steve Wolfson in January. Together, they worked to establish her company’s EIN, and form an LLC in Pennsylvania.

“He gives you the guidance and the direction,” Rankin said. “I can talk through things with him. I don’t have regularly scheduled brainstorming sessions with him, but if I have a question he’s there. I let him know where I’m at.”

Wolfson added Rankin’s company to the chapter’s resource list and has since referred her to several SCORE clients who needed bookkeeping and related services.

“I worked with her through the whole transition and when the LLC, bank account and office was ready, she started signing up clients faster than was anticipated,” Wolfson said. “She is an expert with QuickBooks and can train clients through all different levels needed. Over the first seven months in business, her customer base has expanded dramatically.”

In addition to Rankin, two W-2 employees, a contractor and an advisor round out her team, offering customized services based on their clients’ individual needs. Beyond bookkeeping, Rankin and her associates provide cash flow projections, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, financial reporting, budgeting, and provide year-end tax preparation and reports for their clients’ CPA, among other services.

“I’ve been called the CFO sidekick,” Rankin said, adding that she partners with the clients’ tax accountant to ensure everything is ready and reported properly.

Rankin prides herself on her company’s commitment to great service.

“I don’t care if it’s one person that makes $20,000 a year or a company with 60 employees that makes $70 million a year,” she said. “They’re both just as important.”

Rankin and her staff are fully remote, allowing the company the ability to work with clients in Bucks County and beyond. To date, they serve clients in Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, and Florida, in addition to local business clients in the greater Philadelphia area.

Looking ahead, Rankin is excited about the prospect of continuing to grow her business.

“Fear and anxiety and self-limitations kept me where I was for so long,” she said. “Now it’s a level up. I don’t need to limit myself anymore.”

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. With more than 70 members across Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties, SCORE Bucks County provides over 4,300 free mentoring services annually to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and small business seminars. To stay up to date on news and happenings, join SCORE Bucks County’s email list. Text SCOREBUCKS to 22828.

Puppy Pals Live is an action-packed, family friendly show featuring adopted and rescued dogs performing spectacular stunts and breathtaking feats. Puppies and the audience will be led through challenging and comical tricks as the pooches show everyone who is boss. Full of surprises and laugh-out-loud canine comedy, this show appeals to children of all ages.

Tickets are available at TheNewtownTheatre.com for $32 per person or $27 for theatre members and children 12 and under. Any remaining tickets will be sold for $42 at the door on the day of the show (if available). All seating is general admission.

The theatre is located at 120 N. State Street in Newtown Borough. For the latest news about the Newtown Theatre visit TheNewtownTheatre.com.

In January, the organization will launch a pilot of “One SCORE,” an initiative that culls business-oriented webinars among 30 local chapters in the Mid-Atlantic region – including SCORE Bucks County – throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington DC and presents them to a wider audience.

The region is the first to roll out the new model for showcasing webinars, including staples such as how to start a business, writing a business plan, financial projections, and marketing.

“We are leading the way in the nation within the SCORE organization in developing, testing and executing this and measuring our clients’ impact as a result of these efforts,” said Mid-Atlantic SCORE Regional Vice President Ed Coleman, a volunteer mentor. “It really boils down to quality, consistency, and presenting the topics that best align with our small business clients’ needs and to integrate and support the client mentoring process.”

By combining resources, the chapters can eliminate duplication and offer many more online workshops. On average, 15 webinars will be available monthly, most free of charge. Paid workshops can be attended at no cost with a coupon code from a SCORE mentor. Most of the webinars will be led by local chapter experts.

“All in all, it’s a great way to reach a bigger population and be more consistent in the message that we offer,” SCORE Bucks County Chairwoman Linda Zangrilli said. “We’ll be putting our best foot forward in terms of the speakers and the topics and have that potential to attract so many more clients.”

In addition to providing online educational offerings, SCORE volunteers provide no-cost one-on-one mentoring in-person, online or by phone and email. Mentors have expertise in various business-related backgrounds, from finance and accounting to business operations, information technology, marketing, and more, making it easy to pair clients with the expert in their industry. Find a mentor at score.org/find-mentor.

Local SCORE chapters will still have the ability to offer location-specific webinars, as well as in-person events. For the Bucks chapter, which serves small business owners in Bucks County and eastern Montgomery County, Zangrilli said the popular annual women’s event will continue.

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE provides small business mentoring and workshops to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. With more than 70 members across Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties, SCORE Bucks County provides over 4,300 free mentoring services annually to local small business owners

The Orinda-based cookbook author and former Williams Sonoma culinary director recently released her fourth cookbook, “Homemade Simple: Effortless Dishes for a Busy Life” (Cameron + Company, $29), which builds on an idea she first explored in her debut cookbook, “One Family, One Meal“: that dinnertime should not involve being a short-order cook for each family member. In her latest cookbook, she returns to that concept of family-friendly meal simplicity, but with an added emphasis on health and nutrition.

Q. What inspired this cookbook?

A. This is my fourth cookbook. When I had young kids, I believed that I would figure out how to cook things that we would all enjoy eating. I started messing around with simple recipes of the foods I loved, and found that it worked really well on my kids and their friends. Over the years, it became my philosophy that it doesn’t have to be hard to cook, that it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

With that, there are a couple of ancillary benefits. One is that you’re just eating better and taking better care of yourself. It’s not that it has to be perfect or free of anything that we consider bad for you — it’s just a better way to live. Over time, I’ve had health issues and started to explore anti-inflammatory cooking and make the connection that food can be medicine, or it can make you feel terrible.

During the pandemic, my kids were home from school, and I started cooking everything that they love — with the philosophy that that is probably taking better care of yourself than if you get takeout every night. I took all the tools I’ve learned over the years, like how to meal plan, shop and budget, and I wrapped that up with over 100 recipes that are easy to make, delicious and maybe a little bit better for you, than if you went out to eat.

That’s the new wellness story to live by: Let’s just try to do a little bit better. If you want to learn how to cook something that you’re used to getting (at restaurants) all the time, it’s probably going to have less sodium and less refined ingredients. I don’t want to beat myself up, and I don’t try to change everything at all at once. Let’s just pick one thing, and let me make it easy for you and give you the recipes and the tools you need, so that it doesn’t feel like a challenge or hard to pull off. During the pandemic, I launched cooking classes online. This book came out of that class.

Q. The book talks about how to meal plan. What pointers can you share?

A. I love to cook, but I don’t love it when recipes call for something obscure. That’s one of the most important things for me — I don’t call for ingredients that you’re not going to use again. I want to teach people how to meal plan. You have to start understanding a couple of things: What are the main things you want to cook that week and then carry into other recipes? If you’re going to roast a whole chicken, can you use part of that to make something else during the week? I start by giving them the ideas and sample calendars of things that they can cook during the week.

Q. What are some of your favorite recipes in this book?

A. Skirt steak with chimichurri. The chimichurri (is made with) fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil, capers, and it is so dang good on everything — a roasted sweet potato, a piece of fish, a steak — so I love that. I had someone stop me last night and tell me that the honey mustard salmon is her family’s favorite. I had to laugh, because it is three ingredients and salt, and I’ve had publishers tell me I couldn’t put it in a cookbook because it was too simple. It’s so simple, but it is so good. Simple food can be really delicious.

Q. What are some tips for incorporating more home cooking into our regular routines?

A. The first thing is: Don’t feel like you have to do it all. Even if you pick a couple recipes that you want to learn how to make and master, it gives you confidence. When you learn to do those in your sleep, it makes everything easier.

I like to go to the grocery (store) and meal plan all at once. You can come home and just spend 30 minutes unloading your groceries and then making a vinaigrette or a chimichurri — something you know you can use during the week. I also teach people how to master one thing that you slow cook or that you can make a really big batch of, because it’s so nice to have something to be able to rely on throughout the week that’s delicious and homemade.

Many of my friends learning how to cook think that they’ve got to learn how to do really fancy recipes. I always joke that’s why I go out to eat. I love going to restaurants where people make complicated food because, most nights of the week, I don’t want to spend two hours making dinner. So start small and build up.

Q. What are some cooking tools people should keep in their kitchens?

A. If you want to cook well, you don’t need that much. But there are some things that are going to make your life a lot easier, like a good knife and a good pan, a good cutting board, things like that. I try to teach people that if you’re going to get new tools for the kitchen, make them count. They don’t have to be expensive; they just have to work well. I’m obsessed with owning a fish spatula, because a spatula like that can flip a pancake and flip burgers. It’s so helpful.

Q. Anything else to add?

A. Even though this is my fourth cookbook, I feel like it’s the book I was always meant to write. I think I hit the jackpot on this one — to get the feedback that people are actually already cooking from it and returning to it makes me feel like I’m doing my job well.

Butterfly Garden at Brownsburg Park is to be created.

“As a way to honor the memories of the victims and provide a place for comfort and reflection, we are planning to create a Butterfly Garden at Brownsburg Park with the blessing, input and guidance from the families,” said Tom Cino, chairman, board of supervisors.

The site will memorialize those who died in the storm: Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville NJ; Kathryn Seley, 32, of Charleston SC; 2-year-old Mattie and 9-month-old Conrad Sheils, of Charlestown SC; Yuko Love, 64, of Newtown Township; , and Enzo, 78, and Linda DePiero, 74, of Newtown Township.

Upper Makefield Township officials recently set the project in motion.

“On July 15, our community experienced a tragedy – a tragedy when seven innocent lives were lost in a violent flash flood,” said Tom Cino, supervisor chairman. “The outpouring of support from our community has made us proud and has been a tremendous comfort to the families. We will always remember the day and those families.”

The butterfly garden at Brownsburg Park, 1455 River Rd., New Hope, will be established with input and assistance from the families, according to Cino. And with help, too, from the community.

“We know and understand this project is important to many of your,” he said when announcing the project at a recent public meeting. “And as plans progress, there will be opportunities for community support.”

The community was hurting, he said, after being stuck by a powerful storm that created emergencies widespread like that when fast-rising water stranded many motorists in the area of Stonebridge Crossing Road, between Aqueduct and Wrightstown roads.

And as the storm toll was tallied, sorrowful stores were learned about those who died – from Barnhart, a beloved Washington Crossing Post Office employee after whom Congress later named the Post Office, to Katie Seley, who died in the flooding with her 9-month- and 2-year-old children.

The butterfly garden, said Cino, will be a peaceful place to recall those lost and remember the day.

“We are in the very early stages and the project will soon be turned over to the Park and Recreation Board and the Environmental Advisory Council for development,” he said.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Falls Supervisors unanimously adopted its 2024 budget. The 2024 spending plan holds the line on the current 8.97 millage rate.

As part of the spending plan, property owners will continue to pay $269.10 for an assessment of $30,000 under the township’s 2024 budget. The owner of a similarly assessed Bristol Township property, by comparison, paid $1,069.40 in local taxes for 2023.

Unlike neighboring communities, Falls residents are not assessed for trash and leaf pickup.

Even with keeping taxes flat, the township is planning several upgrades in 2024. Falls has earmarked $500,000 to construct a new playground with wheelchair accessibility at Falls Township Community Park Phase II. The equipment, which is geared for youth ages 2 to 12, will replace the existing playground and will allow for all children to play, particularly those with disabilities, as well as kids on the autism spectrum.

The 2024 budget also includes a new Falls Cares blight remediation program.

Next year’s budget allocates $34.7 million for the design and construction of an expanded and renovated municipal campus, which is expected to be completed in December 2024.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Supervisors Chairman Jeff Dence said of the municipal building project, of which construction began in fall 2023.

The budget also allocates $2.4 million to cover several culvert replacement projects and drainage projects.

In addition, Falls plans to spend $470,000 on four new police vehicles, computer equipment, firearms training and supplies; and $469,700 to replace seven aging pieces of equipment in the Public Works department.

For decades, Falls officials have worked hard to do more with less. For every $1 paid in taxes, Falls Township receives just 4 cents. Yet, year after year the township sees spiraling pension contribution increases. Over the last decade, the township has seen its pension obligation nearly triple. Pension contributions surged from $1.3 million in 2012 to $2.6 million in 2017, with over $3 million projected for next year, all while the state contributions have remained relatively flat.

The township’s Earned Income Tax, which was enacted Jan. 1, 2023, is expected to contribute $7 million to the township’s general fund in 2024.

In all, $78,821,601 is projected to be spent in 2024.

Beginning in January 2024, volunteer firefighters may claim up to a $500 Earned Income Tax (EIT) credit as part of the township’s newly enacted Volunteer Service Tax Credit ordinance.

Township attorney Lauren Gallagher told the Falls Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting that she worked with Fire Marshal Rich Dippolito in crafting the ordinance and determining eligibility.

In order to receive the tax credit, volunteers of Falls Fire Co. No. 1, Fairless Hills Fire Department and Levittown Fire Co. No. 1 must either respond to a minimum of 10 percent of the calls for emergency service to which the volunteer fire company responds; or accrue a minimum of 25 hours of service attained by participating in a combination of emergency response calls, formal training and drills, administrative and support services, fundraising, or other sanctioned firehouse events.

For 2024 and all subsequent years, the eligibility period runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. Volunteers who have met the minimum criteria of the Volunteer Service Credit Program can sign and apply for certification from their chief or supervisor. From there, the application is forwarded to the Falls Township manager’s office for certification. All submissions are required to be sent to the manager’s office on or prior to April 1 each year.

Each active volunteer who has been certified under the Volunteer Service Credit Program shall be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $500 for the Falls Township portion of the EIT. An active volunteer with a tax credit certificate may file a claim for the tax credit on their township earned income tax liability when filing a final local return for the preceding calendar year.

Dubbed the “Falls Cares Program: Action with Compassion,” Township Manager Matthew Takita said he and Code Enforcement Officer Melissa Haxel in, as well as the township’s police co-responder, Cara Gadzinski, are creating a structure to help in rectifying blighted properties.

“The blighted property could be anywhere from a hoarded house to one that is in such disrepair that it requires demolition to one that has high grass and weeds and debris,” Takita said.

As a first step, Takita, who also serves as the township’s code enforcement director, said he’s working with the code enforcement department to ensure that inspectors properly enforce blighted conditions, including issuing a violation notice and proceeding through the court system.

Takita also intends to work with the police department and the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in identifying types of crime in neighborhoods to determine if there’s a trend in data related to property conditions.

“What happens with the crime rate if we eliminate these types of blight issues?” Takita asked.

The township’s police co-responder, a specially trained social worker paired with Falls police, will offer guidance in addressing the “human side” of blight issues, according to Takita.

In instances of hoarding or when a property requires demolition, a resident would be displaced. While it is “easy to write a violation,” doing so does not solve the underlying problem.

“We reset the problem clock,” Takita said. “We’ve just bought more time.”

Instead, the co-responder would work with residents to determine the underlying cause of hoarding, for instance, and identify resources to get property owners help through a network of resources that Falls is developing. The co-responder would also connect property owners with junk removal companies, landscapers and other businesses that could help remedy the situation. By offering resources, Falls hopes to prevent repeat blight problems and provide property owners with needed assistance.

“We want to be able to help the residents out,” Takita said.

Supervisors Chairman Jeff Dence said that while there are only a few blighted properties throughout the township, taking the initiative to correct the root cause of the problem will help in the long run.

“By working together, we can continually improve the quality of life for our residents and business owners,” Dence said. “Through our ‘Falls Cares Program: Action with Compassion,’ we hope to instill a greater pride of ownership and offer help to folks struggling with property maintenance and upkeep.”

Takita expects to develop the program throughout the course of the next year, understanding that it will “constantly evolve” and that “every situation is not exactly the same.”

“Maintaining good housing is important to the community as a whole,” said Takita, who has worked for Falls Township for a little more than four years. “Coming into Falls, that’s one of the first things I looked at: What does Falls have as far as their property maintenance program?”

With the hope improvements will increase safety, the busy Washington Avenue and Lincoln Avenue intersection in Newtown Borough will receive new signal poles and heads to replace half-century-old equipment, new LED countdown pedestrian signals, concrete sidewalks and ramps, and new pavement markings, according to action taken recently by Borough Council. The board OK’d two bids for work on the project totaling more than $900,000.

A portion of the project price tag is covered by a $271,000 grant awarded to the borough in 2021 through the state Transportation Department’s Greenlight Go program.

The new poles and signal heads, costing $80,000, are a fluted, more decorative design similar to those at Washington and State Street. Councilman Kris Bauman cited the higher cost for the equipment, but said “sometimes clothing does matter.”

Said he: “We have two other signals in town that have this look. It’s a much nicer look and it’s representative of who we are as a town, as a community. And I think we should do the same here notwithstanding the fact it’s going to cost us more money.”

The intersection upgrades also include installation of a Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI), which will allow pedestrians to enter the crosswalk 3 to 7 seconds before vehicles are given a green indication. The LPI allows pedestrians to better establish their presence in the crosswalk before vehicles have priority to turn right or left.