Weatherly Borough Council members are speaking out against a bill in Harrisburg that would prohibit them from using electric company profits to cover other borough expenses.

They say it could lead to tax increases for residents.The borough is one of 35 Pennsylvania municipalities with its own electric department. A state legislator has proposed a bill that would make it unlawful to transfer money from the electric department to the general fund, similar to the way sewer authorities are treated.In Weatherly, the electric company turns a profit, which is used to balance the budget and hopefully prevent tax increases, solicitor James Nanovic said.“Routinely, we have used electric funds for other purposes, not just for electric, but to defray other expenses for the borough. As does every other municipality that has its own electric company,” he said.Mayor/council President Tom Connors said that borough residents may pay a little more for electric than towns without their own service, but it comes back in the form of services, such as police and road crew.“We sell electric, we make money, we use that money to pay for other things. We have a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week police department due to the fact that we’re able to sell electric and make some money on it,” he said.Connors said that if the bill goes through, residents would be looking at a decrease in their electric bill, but they could also face a big tax increase to provide the same service.“The taxes would definitely have to go up if you wanted to keep the services you have now. And I would think they would go up quite a bit,” Connors said.