Bristol Township looking at possible earned income tax increase – Bucks Round-Up – April 20, 2026
Bristol Township looking at possible earned income tax increase
Bristol Township is considering an increase in its earned income tax (EIT) to possibly help reduce its real estate tax. The municipality has asked Keystone Municipal Solutions to determine if a doubling of the 0.5-percent levy to one percent should be used to lessen the township’s real estate taxes. The Bristol Township Council approved payment of $17,500 to Keystone to analyze the potential impact. Initially imposing an EIT was controversial and faced opposition in Bristol Township and other nearby municipalities, though most of them have since adopted an EIT. Many residents working outside the township pay the higher rate to other jurisdictions, while Bristol Township collects a 0.5 percent tax. Council President Craig Bowen said the Keystone study is a prerequisite for any change in the township’s taxing system, with the goal being to reduce the millage rate.
Tinicum sides with farmer at odds with the neighbors
The not-so-neighborly feuds with a new farmer and its operation finds Tinicum Township siding with the farmer this time. In the idyllic Upper Black Eddy community, neighbors have lodged more than one complaint about the new Rosenati Farm demanding to know if the livestock operation is violating any township laws, while they complain about the smell and more. The township says the owner is complying with township regulations and the Bucks County Department of Health has determined the owner has a valid farmers market license. The township said last week that Rosenati Farm on Boulder Road is a permitted agricultural operation, located within the R-C or Residential-Conservation District, that lists animal husbandry and crop farming as permitted principal uses. The dispute with the neighbors is not unusual, with mostly upscale housing developments bordering the farm next door. Similar grievances, particularly about odors, have come up in Newtown, Lower Makefield, and Upper Makefield townships, where routine agricultural practices such as plowing and fertilizing compete with fresh air. A township official previously commented that residents who choose to live in a rural farm area cannot do much if the farmers are following township and county regulations and the township cannot interfere. Some farm issues, like livestock processing, would come under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the state’s Right to Farm Act, however. Owner Rosita Manolcheva describes the neighborhood friction as harassment. Manolcheva recently was engaged in and lost a June 2025 Commonwealth Court case involving her farming venture in Upper Makefield Township. After losing in court, she was shutdown permanently in October 2025. Manolcheva said she is doing things the right way on her new farm. Manolcheva was co-owner of the former Earth’s Best Organics in Upper Makefield.
Sellersville plans for residential development on a former brownfield
A new residential development will rise on what was unused and possibly contaminated land that is designated as a brownfield in the Sellersville Business Campus. The Department of Community and Economic Development recently authorized $125,625 from the Industrial Site Reuse Program for cleanup at the site to make way for future residential development on a 4.9-acre parcel at 900 East Clymer Avenue. The total 45-acre campus includes the former Ametek/U.S. Gauge plant that closed in 2008. The Bucks County Redevelopment Authority is spearheading the project remediation. The new funds will be used for soil cleanup, removal of a 20,000-gallon underground storage tank, and handling of quarterly groundwater sampling as part of the Land Recycling Program. After completion, the site is expected to meet standards for residential development in the Sellersville community. The property was acquired by the Bucks County Industrial Development Authority in 2013 to begin building a business park, which was established in 2015. The proposed residential development will join Solar Manufacturing Inc. on the business campus site. A manufacturer of vacuum heat-treating furnaces, the company is the site’s first tenant, having opened in October 2019.
Pat Wandling is a veteran journalist, formerly of The Bucks County Courier, and was a mainstay on WBCB for over 20 years.
