Coaldale passed a budget with a tax increase to cover increases in pay and insurance costs.

Borough council voted 3-2 at a meeting Wednesday to approve its 2021 budget.

Wayne Figner and Ken Hankey Jr. voted against, and Anne Girard and Francis Hutta were absent from the meeting.

The 2021 budget includes 31.04 mills, an increase of 0.5 mills. The owner of a home with an assessed value of $25,000 will see their tax bill increase by $12.50 to have a tax bill of $776.

The budget includes $1,545,654.46 in general fund expenses.

Early on in the budget process, the borough was looking at a larger tax increase. Council President Angela Krapf said council cut some expenses from the budget in order to decrease the tax increase from one mill to 0.5.

“We didn’t want to do that because we know especially with COVID how many people were affected with things,” Krapf said.

The increased expenses came from contractual raises for employees, and rising insurance costs.

Council also approved a contract with the Teamsters local representing the two road crew members.

Figner voted against the contract, and Hankey abstained because he is a road crew member.

Figner said he thought the compensation for the workers was too high.

“If people knew how much they make here, they’d quit their jobs and come work here,” Figner said.

Councilwoman Claire Remington said she agreed the compensation was high. She said she was voting in favor because negotiations had taken two years and the borough will begin negotiating its next contract later this year.