BUTLER TWP — Butler Township residents won’t see an increase in their property taxes for next year if a proposed budget introduced Monday is adopted next month by the township commissioners.

Township officials said the proposed $7.83 million general fund budget for 2016 keeps the millage rate at 11.25 mills.

Township manager Ed Kirkwood said the budget represented “pretty much what was requested by department heads.”

Some of the budget’s major expenditures include $725,000 in health care contributions for the township’s 47 employees; $364,000 in employee insurance; $685,000 in road maintenance; $247,000 for street lighting; and $307,000 for road salt.

The township also will spend $283,000 in pension plan contributions; $261,000 in debt service payments; and $338,000 in fire department contributions, Kirkwood said.

Commissioner Joe Hasychak marveled at the combined cost of insurance and health care for the township, noting it totaled more than $1 million.

He also urged the commissioners to pay attention to the plight of volunteer fire companies. He said the companies are struggling with membership, and the possibility of forcing townships like Butler into instituting paid departments is a financially untenable prospect.

“In the future that’s one of the things that could really affect our budget, and we’re not alone. Volunteers are hard to get,” Hasychak said. “We’re very proud of where we are. We’d like to keep it that way.”

One mill generates $1 in real estate tax income for each $1,000 of a property’s assessed value, and is worth $153,790 in the township.

A typical homeowner with an assessed property value of $14,667 and a market value of $152,827 would pay $165 in taxes.

The township’s last property tax increase came in 2012, the commissioners said.