SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Taxes will not increase in Schuylkill Haven in 2013.
The current tax rate is 4.75 mills. Borough Treasurer Gloria Ebling said the budget might be on par with the 2012 budget, which was $13,888,656.
"No doubt about it," council President Marlin Berger Jr. said after about a 90-minute budget meeting Wednesday about no tax increase.
There will also be no increases in sewer or water rates, Berger said.
"The budget is pretty well balanced, people," Berger told the council members at the start of the meeting.
A new police car, dump truck and pickup truck could be purchased this year, though. The police car has a lot of miles, borough Manager Scott Graver said and is about seven or eight years old. The pickup truck is a 1999 model and the dump truck is a 1995 model. Two substation breakers could also be purchased. Graver said while "the core of the budget is here" figures are not budgeted yet for the Route 61 widening project or the possible $1.24 million sewer project. A meeting about the possible sewer project is scheduled for 5 p.m. today at council chambers.
The widening project, which could start next spring, will add two lanes to Route 61 through the borough. Costs have yet to be finalized for the road project, he said.
The sewer project is to address an issue with full pipes during heavy rains. Graver said the borough has about $1.4 million from a prior bond issue to use for the project. Some money budgeted could be used to address issues with taking precautions for any flooding in the plant, Graver said.
Hospital and health costs increased 13 percent, Ebling said. She did not provide a figure.
Three people could no longer be employed with the borough next year, Ebling said.
A highway department worker who has more than 30 years of experience could retire. The person, whom she declined to name, along with the other two individuals, one a water and sewer distributor and the other works for the treatment plant, are eligible for payouts of sick, vacation and personal pay if they retire, she said. The highway worker could get $30,000, the water and sewer distributor about $13,000 and the water treatment plant employee about $8,000, Ebling said.
The council has yet to act on the possible departures. In addition to those expenses, Ebling said the police contract ends next year, "so we might have extra expenses," she said.
Berger commented on the ease of reading the budget at the meeting.
Also in the budget is $25,000 required by the state Department of Community and Economic Development as part of a five-year commitment by the borough when applying for the Keystone Main Street Community Designation, which would give the borough a priority in getting grants. Those funds would be used to pay a full-time manager and expenses associated with administering the program, economic development director Carl Berger said previously.
No members from the public attended the meeting.