The Palmerton Borough Council was busy Thursday night.

Council announced the 2016 tax rate, the new trash collection fee, appointed a new assistant fire chief and accepted the resignations of two firefighters.The proposed 2016 tax rate would generate revenue for general purposes, recreation purposes and debt-reduction purposes.Palmerton Borough Manager Rodger Danielson said the millage will remain unchanged for general and recreation purposes, but would increase 1.25 mills for the debt reduction."We haven't had a raise in this field for about seven years," Danielson said. "We are looking at a cost of $70,000 to $75,000 because our compactor is in serious disrepair."The revenue raised in the debt reduction fund would help to pay to repair to compactor.Overall the tax rate on real estate property in the borough for general purposes would remain 6.78 mills on each dollar of assessed valuation. This means that for every $100 of assessed valuation the tax would be 67.8 cents, according to the proposed ordinance.The tax for recreation purposes would also remain the same at 0.49 mills on each dollar of assessed valuation or 4.9 cents on $100 of assessed valuation. For debt reduction, the tax would increase to 2.25 mills or 22.5 cents on each $100 of assessed valuation.Similarly, the fee for residential trash collection and disposal will see a slight increase. The proposed fee would be $72 per residential unit per quarter. Danielson pointed out that the fee is not per person, but per housing unit. The increase would amount to a $2 per month change, he said."Between the (trash collection fee and the debt reduction), the increase is about $7 per household (per month)," he said.Thursday night was the first public reading. The second reading will be at the next borough meeting on Nov. 17. The council will vote on the matter at its meeting on Dec. 3.Also at the meeting, the council appointed Jason Behler as the new assistant fire chief for the Palmerton Municipal Fire Department. Behler has 25 years of experience in the department. He takes over for the former assistant fire chief Dennis Behler, who was appointed in October to the position of fire chief. The position was vacated in early October when then fire chief Larry Zawaly retired and resigned from the fire department.The council also accepted the resignations of firefighters Shawn Rios and Jordan Beggan from the municipal fire department. Council president Terry Costenbader said they have decided to return to the West End Fire Company No. 2 of Palmerton.