Summit Hill Borough Council agreed on Monday that a budget adopted in December wouldn’t generate sufficient revenue to carry the borough through 2018.

That first budget called for a half-mill tax increase.

Revisiting the budget, council voted 4-3 to hike the real estate tax a full mill.

That means a home assessed at $50,000 will see a $25 tax increase.

In favor of the new rate were council members Bill Chapman, David Wargo, Deb Ranck — who said she approves “with reservations,” and council President Mike Kokinda.

Opposed were Gregory Kosciolek, William O’Gurek Jr. and Karen Ruzicka.

The increase raises the total tax millage for 2018 from 15.6 mills to 16.6 mills.

Kokinda said this is the first tax hike since 2012. He said in 2014 and 2015, the taxes were reduced by a quarter of a mill each of those years.

While taxes have risen, Kokinda so have expenses.

He said the borough had to borrow money from the sewer fund to carry it through the spring until tax revenue arrives.

If there isn’t enough money in the budget for 2018 expenses, the borough will have to take a tax anticipation loan which could result in interest costs.

Chapman said based on information from the borough’s secretary/treasurer Kira Steber, without increasing taxes the borough will be “extremely short” in revenue.

Kosciolek urged that before the taxes are increased, the council review the entire budget to see if cuts can be made.

After lengthy discussion of several line items, council voted and narrowly agreed to the increase.

Kokinda said it’s hard to be precise on some budget figures, saying, “What’s the price of gas going to be in July? How much will heating costs be next November? How much snow will we get? How much ice will we get? We haven’t raised taxes since 2012. That’s six years.”

Council agreed that it will review expenses throughout the year and likely will come up with a purchase order setup for all the departments in the borough.