Jim Thorpe Borough Council has rewritten the rules for its volunteer firefighter tax credit, raising the percentage of calls volunteers must answer while cutting the years of service needed to qualify.

Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2026-23 on Thursday, replacing criteria that had been on the books since 2018 under Pennsylvania’s Act 172. The credit is available to volunteers with the Jim Thorpe Municipal Fire Department and Lehighton Ambulance Association.

The response threshold rises from 20% to 30% of the department’s total annual call volume. The training requirement stays at 30% of annual drills, and volunteers must also take part in at least 5% of administrative and support work. Required years of service drops from five to three.

“This is to try to retain our volunteers and give them some type of incentive to stay with us,” Councilman Mike Yeastedt said at the Oct. 1 council workshop.

Council President Connor Rodgers said the update was overdue.

“This is something that hasn’t been replaced or updated in eight years,” Rodgers said. “Our last resolution was from 2018, so definitely much needed.” He added that volunteers must be borough residents to claim the credit.

Act 172, signed into law in 2016, allows Pennsylvania municipalities to offer active volunteer firefighters and EMS members a credit against their local real estate tax, their earned income tax, or both. Each municipality writes its own eligibility rules and sets the credit amount. Under the 2018 resolution, the borough offered a 20% real estate tax credit and an earned income tax credit of up to $200 per year. Those amounts remain unchanged.

Fire chiefs and EMS supervisors track each volunteer’s activity through the year and must submit a notarized list of eligible volunteers to the borough before tax notices go out.

The resolution drew no questions when it came up for a vote Thursday.

Council on Thursday also authorized distribution of $27,332.05 in state volunteer fire relief funds to the borough’s relief association.

The Jim Thorpe Municipal Fire Department is made up of Diligent Fire Co. No. 3 and Onoko Fire and Rescue.