Council approves spending plan with half-mill increase

Lehighton residents will have to dole out a little more money next year on their municipal tax rates after all.

Borough council on a unanimous vote agreed Monday to adopt this year’s budget with a half-mill increase.

That will raise the millage rate from 7.5 to 8.0 mills, which means a homeowner with a home assessed at $50,000 will pay $400, or $25 more, to the borough this year in property taxes.

Council’s action comes after a special meeting held Jan. 10 in which it approved a motion for a half-mill increase for the general fund capital reserve on a 4-3 vote, with council members Autumn Abelovsky, Joe Flickinger, Lisa Perry and Ryan Saunders in favor, and council members Jared McEvoy, Darryl Arner and council President Grant Hunsicker opposed.

Abelovsky deferred to borough Manager Nicole Beckett’s budget presentation in November, at which time she recommended long-term planning for capital improvements.

However, a motion at the special meeting for a half-mill increase for the capital reserve for fire company equipment was defeated by a 4-3 vote, with McEvoy, Arner, Hunsicker and Saunders opposed, and Abelovsky, Flickinger and Perry in favor.

Hunsicker said that though he voted against the half-mill increase for the capital reserve for the fire company, he isn’t against the fire company buying new equipment.

At its reorganization Jan. 2, council agreed to reopen the 2018 budget to re-evaluate the millage rates several weeks after the previous council adopted the spending plan without a tax increase.

The request was initiated by Abelovsky, who won her first term in office this past November.

Initially, council deadlocked 3-3 to approve that request, with Flickinger, Perry and Abelovsky in favor, and Saunders, McEvoy and Hunsicker opposed. Arner was absent at that meeting.

In his capacity as mayor, Clark Ritter broke the tiebreaker by agreeing to reopen budget discussions.

The previous council — which included former council members Scott Rehrig and Helen Torok — last month unanimously agreed to adopt the 2018 budget with no tax increase.

That decision to approve this year’s $4,543,504 spending plan would have left the millage rate in check at 7.5 mills, which would have meant a homeowner with a home assessed at $50,000 would again pay $375 to the borough next year in property taxes.

Last month, Beckett met with all department heads, and as a result, the borough was able to come up with $53,636 in budget cuts.

As part of that, the borough was able to trim $25,500 from the police department ($20,000 of which is to eliminate the part-time police roster); $7,500 from administration; $7,000 from recreation; $6,500 from public works; $2,500 from employee benefits; $2,000 from the borough annex; $1,636 from the fire department; and $1,000 from emergency management.

Beckett said at that time $218,450 was needed to balance next year’s budget.

On a 5-2 vote, council at a special meeting in December, agreed to take $178,450, or 2.17 mills, from the borough’s electric fund, to balance the budget.

Also at that meeting, council decided against additional millage for the fire department.

That decision came after fire Chief Patrick Mriss at a special meeting in November said the department needed apparatus replacement.

The four pieces of equipment discussed at that meeting were Engines 512 and 514, Ladder 523 and Rescue 551.

In 2001, council increased real estate taxes by a half-mill of real estate to fund future fire equipment purchases. However, equipment prices have significantly increased since then.

Taxes were last raised in 2014, when council approved a 1-mill increase.