In a 6-1 vote Monday night, the Slatington Borough Council approved an increase in the real estate taxes. The tax will be increased 0.55 mills, which is a 10.7% increase.

Council member Jason Ruff voted against the increase which is expected to fill a $95,700 gap in the budget.

Prior to taking a vote, council President Bryon Reed suggested that they consider taking money from the general fund to help fill the budget gap. He said other municipalities are not increasing taxes.

“The thing is if we are going to get the things done that we have to get done, we need the income to do it,” said council member Dave Schnaars.

Reed said the general fund is at $1.5 million and taking $20,000 or $30,000 from it could help reduce the budget gap and tax increase.

Council member Thomas Bartholomew said some of the budget increase was due to medical leave on the police force. They don’t know exactly how much money will be needed. If the borough ends up not needing as much money to cover this cost, then there may be a surplus which would help with the 2023 budget.

Reed reiterated his suggestion. “It’s an option if you wanted to take some out.”

Reed said that the borough did not have a shortfall this year.

Borough Manager Dan Stevens agreed and said the borough was fine this year, because some costs were lower than expected.

“We did better on our medical refund this year than we budgeted. Problem is next year, we’re not going to have it,” he said. “That’s a killer right there.”

Stevens went on to say that the expenses are not disappearing. Schnaars added that the general fund is an emergency backup.

Ruff said he was interested in Reed’s suggestion, but council member Ron Kratz said there was a decision about the budget coming into the meeting. He said three council members actually wanted the increase to be higher.

“Now you’re talking about going lower,” he said.

“We got so much that we need to be doing around the borough,” Schnaars said. “That million dollars can hardly cover the stuff that hasn’t gotten done over the years in the borough. We’ve got streets that aren’t covered by CDBG. We’ve got alleyways that need repairing. We’ve got a sewer project that needs to be done. There’s all kinds of things around the borough that are not getting done because we’re holding the budget tight. I hate to raise my own taxes, but I’m happy with the proposal that we came up with in committee.”

Ruff asked where those projects are in the budget. He said he’d like to see them get done, too.

“I just keep feeling like those projects never get started or worked on and that money just sits there. And if the money is just going to sit there, I’d rather use it to make up a $97,000 shortfall than raise taxes,” Ruff said.

Stevens said some of the projects are on hold because they are waiting to hear if the borough will be receiving any grant money. For instance, the stormwater project has a grant application submitted for $1.5 million.

“If we get that, the borough is going to have to either borrow money or spend,” he said. “It’s a $400,000 match.”

In addition to the real estate tax, the garbage rate will also increase from $50 to $80 per quarter. The new rate is due to an increase in costs with the garbage hauler.

County Waste was the lowest bidder at $1,474,904 for three years. The other bidders went as high as $3,019,774. County Waste’s current contract was for five years at $872,500.

All other borough fees will remain the same.