Carbon County homeowners will see an increase in their county property taxes in 2026.

On Thursday, the county commissioners approved the 2026 preliminary budget, which calls for a 1.5-mill increase, bringing the millage rate to 16.7 mills for general purposes and 0.8 mills for debt purposes. The budget includes $78,427,396 for general operating purposes; $2 million for capital projects; and $10,166,077 for special funds.

That means that homeowners will pay approximately $150 for every $100,000 of assessment.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko outlined the items that pushed the budget to the max and how the county was working to keep the cost to taxpayers down as much as possible.

Increases to costs

“We what we really faced here is about a $3.5 million increase from last year(‘s budget),” he said. “It should be noted that when we started this budget, we were somewhere close to the $7 million range.”

Two big items driving the need for an increase is healthcare, he said, noting that the county employee coverage is set to increase $1.4 million for coverage, which represents about a 16.7% increase over 2025; as well as the cost for healthcare at the prison for inmates, which increased $550,000.

“If you’re doing the math right now, you realize that $2 million of the $3 million is healthcare,” Sofranko said.

Other large items in the budget include wage increases based on union contract terms, which adds up to about $700,000; the budget pension contributions, which totals over $1.1 million; and $19.9 million in annual wages for non-union employees; and $2.7 million for matching funds for various grants the county has applied for.

Contributions to various organizations that the county has supported remains the same at $521,434.

Finding balance

To help balance the budget, the county again utilized the parking fund, budgeting $750,000 from that to the general fund to help with operational costs.

“Our goal was to take $1.2 million again (like this year) and continue to do that, but obviously, we’ve been borrowing from the parking fund to pay other bills (from the state budget impasse) so we cannot take the amount we wish to take out of there,” Sofranko said, adding that the parking fund helped the county stretch its funds during the impasse when money wasn’t coming in from the state.

In addition, the budget includes a 2.5% wage increase for non-union employees, which Sofranko said, was in line with what union contracts would be for 2026; however, the final decision on the wage increase will not be official until the annual salary board meeting in January.

Trimming

To help cut costs, Sofranko outlined some things the county changed to find savings.

These include continuing the hiring freeze that was put in place last year; as well as eliminating six full-time and nine part-time positions in various departments that had remained vacant.

Eliminated position are not filled by any person so the work is already delegated to the employees in those offices.

Departments that had vacancies that will be eliminated include adult probation, domestic relations, buildings and grounds, information technology, cooperative extension, correctional facility, recorder of deeds, treasurer, 911/EMA and election.

Sofranko said that with that move, the county will realize a savings from benefit packages and salaries if those positions were to be filled.

“This is something that was necessary,” Commissioner Rocky Ahner added. “What we’ve been doing here is not eliminating jobs, just the positions that weren’t needed.”

He pointed out that with these changes in the offices, job descriptions are being updated and wages are increasing to accommodate the extra work.

Sofranko thanked the county courts and row officeholders and department heads for working with the commissioners to rework the offices.

Open space future

The county has already pledged $10 million to its open space program after a referendum vote showed taxpayers were in favor of the initiative.

Since that vote, the county currently gave about $2 million for the startup of the program; but the $10 million bond has not yet been issued.

Sofranko said that reasons for this include the county’s credit rating dropping a year or two ago, creating higher interest rates for borrowing money.

“It means for every dime we borrow, it costs us more,” he said. “So what we’re trying to do here is rectify our rating and get our rating back on the upswing and if that happens, then we’re hoping in the first quarter of the year interest rates drop and things change around, then borrowing money or getting a bond makes a lot more sense. We’re trying to get that bond at the lowest rate as we possibly can.

Final adoption

Sofranko said that while this budget has several increases, he said a tax increase is necessary to help the county build a fund balance and rebuild after the impasse strained the county’s general fund.

Funds from the state and federal government has started to flow again, not at the normal funding rate, but at least something is coming in at this time.

He also noted that 1 mill equates to approximately $1.65 million.

The budget is now available for resident review online at the county website or at the commissioners’ office, located in the administration building in Jim Thorpe, until Dec. 17. It will be formally adopted during the board’s Dec. 18 meeting.