Summit Hill Borough Council on Monday passed its 2022 budget which retains the current tax rates. However, annual garbage collection rates will increase $40.

The new rate will be $240 per year or $60 per quarter.

Council member David Wargo said the rate has been unchanged for several years, adding, “We held the line on $200 for so long that there wasn’t much we could do about it.”

The borough is switching trash haulers for 2022 and residents will have a new pickup day. Tamaqua Transfer was awarded a four-year contract at last month’s meeting.

Effective Jan. 3, garbage will be picked up on Mondays in the borough.

The contract is for regular trash pickup only, but there will be no recycling. The borough didn’t have recycling with its previous hauler, either.

Wargo explained the cost for trash collection would be more if recycling was included. In addition, there’s no guarantee the recyclables would actually be recycled.

For this to occur, people would have to keep the recyclables separate, remove labels and lids from bottles and jars and clean the items being recycled.

Tamaqua Transfer will also have a spring and fall cleanup collection and an electronic recycling collection.

Wargo said the present hauler, County Waste, will schedule an electronics pickup Jan. 15 as a fulfillment of the terms of the 2021 contract. It will be a two-hour event with times and location to be announced.

The contract with County Waste called for an annual electronics recycling event but none was ever held. The council agreed to withhold its December payment of $23,025 to County Waste until the electronics recycling occurs.

The 2022 budget is based on 18.5 mills. This includes 16.5 mills for general purposes, 1.5 mills for street lighting and a half mill for fire allocation.

The budget is balanced with receipts and expenses totaling $1,430,940.

The council will hold its reorganization meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 4 in the borough hall.