Montco Township Facing $3.2 Million Deficit

Franconia Township, in Montgomery County near the border with Bucks, recently told its residents it had racked up $3.2 million in budget deficits since 2011. The township has around 13,000 residents.

The Inquirer reports on a raucous — well, raucous for a suburban supervisors meeting in a township of 13,000 — meeting held earlier this month where township supervisors voted to lay off a third of its employees (including six cops, though two were part-time) and raise taxes 19 percent.

“I don’t understand how, after five years, suddenly the lights went on that you folks ran out of money,” one man shouted to the supervisors that night. “Why can’t you folks live within the confines that we give you and trust you to spend on an annual basis?” […]

“I was not expecting that you would just sit there,” said one attendee, Tara Gray. “I get a better reaction from my dog, to be completely honest.”

See? Raucous! A video posted by Montgomery News shows a packed room, with one resident calling the supervisors “a disgrace.” The police union has appealed the layoffs.

[Inquirer | Souderton Independent]