The Slatington Borough Council met last Monday night for a special session to discuss the preliminary budget for 2022.

The result was an increase to the real estate tax for the borough by 0.55 mills, which is a 10.7% increase. The council was at a standstill with a possible 0.7-mill increase, differing opinions, and a budget gap of more than $135,000 when they went into executive session.

“We pared that down,” said borough Manager Dan Stevens about the tax increase and budget gap.

When they returned, negotiations shrank the gap by $40,000. The tax increase could generate $95,700 and fill in the remainder of the hole.

Stevens said the council decided to use the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to cover the cost of one-time expenses for individual projects, not ongoing expenses. This helped close the gap.

“We don’t want to use it for ongoing expenses,” Stevens said.

The rescue funds are not part of the budget, Stevens said, because ongoing expenses need to be funded through ongoing sources of revenue, not funding that is ending.

There are three projects that the council plans to cover through the rescue fund. One is a $70,000 renovation project to two bathrooms at Victory Park. The borough has a $50,000 grant, but has to contribute $20,000 to the overall cost, Stevens said.

The second project is the roof on the borough building, which could cost about $15,000. The third is the recodification of the borough’s zoning ordinances. This is a two-year project that will cost $5,000 one year and another $5,000 the following year.

Stephens said the council also decided to continue to cover the expense of gasoline and diesel for the fire department.

“It’s like a contribution to them,” he said, since the fire department has not been able to hold fundraising events due to COVID-19.

The council may also opt to use some of the rescue plan money to cover the cost of a maintenance project at the fire department, he said.

Similarly, the council opted to add $1 per person, which equals $4,232, to the borough’s contribution to the Northern Lehigh Recreation Authority. This brings the total per person back to $7, for a total contribution of $29,624 from the borough. The authority receives funding from Washington Township and Slatington.

As far as the rest of the budget, nothing was scrapped from it, no other taxes were increased, and the budgets for the fire department, and water and sewer departments all remained the same. The total for revenue comes out to $2,138,377 and the total for the borough’s expenses is expected to be $2,137,992.

The budget is available for public view at the borough building. The council will vote on whether or not to pass it at their regular meeting on Dec. 13.