Tamaqua Borough Council approved a 2-mill tax hike Tuesday evening in order to help balance the 2017 budget. Council approved the final budget and adopted the corresponding tax ordinance, setting the borough’s real estate tax rate at 21.75 mills, with 20.25 mills for general purposes, 1 mill for the building and equipment fund, and 0.5 mill for the Wabash Capital improvement fund.

Although the budget passed with a 5-1 vote in favor, several borough officials made their displeasure with the increase known.Councilman Ron Bowman, the sole nay vote, repeated sentiments he expressed when the budget was first presented.“I have neighbors who are 70 years old, driving a school bus to help keeping ends meet. Just to keep their house,” he said.“I understand where the borough is at, we’re trying to make ends meet, too. The money just isn’t there, and I’m afraid it’s not going to be there.”Later in the meeting, Bowman said he felt council made a mistake by not adding a smaller increase last year, instead of avoiding one, and having to mete out a higher one this year.“My point is not that this is not needed, my point is that you can’t punch someone in the face, punch them in the stomach, and then kick them when they are down. Slap them in the face and let them walk on by.”Mayor Christian Morrison also struggled with the tax increase.“Taxes were about 12 mills when I came in here 11 years ago,” he said. “They’ve gone up about 10 mills and we’re still running a red budget.”Morrison cited the costs of running a community, noting that everything costs more and is going to continue to cost more. “How do we stop the bleeding,” he asked.He did cite the development of new homes in the Owl Creek area of the community, but said there is little other space available to grow.“This is going to end with more vacant homes and more delinquencies,” he said. “Where do we go from here?”Councilman Micah Gursky said Tamaqua’s problem is not unique. Small towns everywhere are facing the same struggles. He pointed out that the new year’s budget includes two new police officers, a need that several council members and the mayor agreed is a pressing one in the community.“I will also push back and say that the value of a mill has consistently gone up. It’s not fair to say that we have a shrinking tax base,” he said, “It’s just not growing as fast as we wish it were, or as fast as the expenses.”Resident Bob Knepper asked council and the borough manager to go back and look for other cuts that could be made to the budget. Knepper disagreed that the borough needs more police and questioned if all of the borough workers are necessary.“I really think we could tweak the spending,” he said.Borough manager Kevin Steigerwalt said the budget had been gone over many times. “You can only tweak it so much.”Councilman Dan Evans said the borough workforce has been reduced dramatically over the years.“We have six people on the street side and six people on the water side,” he said. “Every department is dramatically lower than it was in 2000, in 1990.”The 2017 budget contains an estimated $10,716,146 in revenue and $10,718, 372 in expenditures. Steigerwalt said that there is no one item that is breaking the budget, costs in all departments are rising.