Narberth OKs Budget, Tax Rate

The Narberth Borough Council on Wednesday night approved a 2013 budget that includes no tax increase on residents.

The rate remains $1,316 a year for a $150,000 home, roughly the average assessment in the borough.

Repairing the Narberth Avenue bridge is set to cost the borough about $300,000, in a borough whose annual budget is less than $5 million. Officials are going through the process of getting the $300,000 in a tax-anticipation note from Wells Fargo, to be repaid over five years.

Narberth Borough Manager Bill Martin said crews have done two weeks of bridge repairs already and are in the middle of a holiday week off. The work is still expected to be completed and the bridge reopened around the third week of January, Martin told Patch.

The century-old bridge closed in August after failing a PennDOT safety inspection. The borough plans to demolish and rebuild the bridge as soon as 2014.