There’s not much excitement or flash in the Butler Township Commissioners’ plan to spend the $2.4 million windfall from last year’s sale of the Deshon Woods property.

In this instance, lack of excitement is not a bad thing. Municipalities bent on fancy schemes rarely wind up with a cash surplus. Prudence is a virtue.

Township manager Ed Kirkwood’s proposal is available for public review and comment before an April 21 vote. The plan proposes four areas for the fund’s allocation:

• $300,000 to the general fund to eliminate the need for an annual tax anticipation loan.

• $750,000 for a new sinking fund, to be used to pay down principal and interest debt service of $3.9 million, scheduled for completion in 15 years.

• $667,500 for a stormwater/major infrastructure fund, to be used for bridge and road maintenance.

• $667,500 for a capital equipment fund, to be used to replace vehicles or equipment.

The continuation of low interest rates in today’s economy only amplifies the notion that found money is free money. While cash placed in interest-bearing accounts won’t earn much interest, it’s prudent to pay down lingering debt and put aside cash to avoid future borrowing.

And Kirkwood’s plan is prudent. Perhaps just a shade too prudent.

The first of the four recommendations, to put $300,000 in the general fund to eliminate the need for an annual tax anticipation loan, seems unnecessary. The township did not take a tax anticipation loan in 2014 and did not shoulder the $9,000 to $11,000 in interest that would have gone with it.

Municipal governments traditionally have taken a tax anticipation loan to sustain operations through the early months of the year, before taxes are due for collection. Later, when tax revenue is flowing, the note is paid off.

“At one time, it made sense to secure an annual tax anticipation loan,” the written proposal states, “since investing the loan proceeds produced investment income greater than the interest expense. Those times are long gone.”

By adding $300,000 to the general fund as Kirkwood proposes, the township would essentially end the year with enough surplus to carry it into the next year. Apparently a general fund surplus already exists and the township avoided the need for a tax anticipation loan in 2014.

Bearing in mind that the sale of Deshon Woods, a public property, generated public money, the $300,000 earmarked for the general fund should be returned to the public, either as a tax credit or an actual refund check.

Residents might be able to use this found money to solve a lot of individual problems; conversely, the township’s proposal to put it in the general fund would remedy a problem that currently doesn’t even exist.

It seems a more fair choice to return this share of the Deshon Woods proceeds to the taxpayer than to place it in a general fund that already carries enough surplus to avoid tax-anticipation borrowing.