Charleroi: No tax hike in proposed budget

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

Charleroi residents are not expected to face a tax increase next year. 

After struggling with the budget for several weeks, council presented a preliminary budget Wednesday that holds taxes at their current level. 

The spending plan,  which is approximately $2.6 million, will leave the borough $30,000 in the black for 2021.

The millage will remain unchanged at 6.85.

Though council crunched the numbers to end the year in a surplus — significantly larger than $555 this year — there is still work to be done.

Councilwoman Jeannine Motycki who recently resigned from the finance committee, said she’s not fully happy with the presented budget. 

“The budget was worked on, and not going to say I agree with all of it, but it’s done,” she said. 

The budget includes a new truck for the street department, which is currently operating with one vehicle. There’s also money for several road repairs, a new borough manager position and the addition of one street department worker.

Motycki said there are some expenditures she believes are too large.

“I just feel some of these numbers are too inflated for still being in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. 

Council President Mark Alterici, who helped to go over the preliminary budget Monday before it was presented to council, said numbers were based on figures from 2019 and 2020.

“These numbers were based on what we received before the pandemic and what we received during the pandemic,” Alterici said. “With a vaccine coming shortly, there is no reason to think we will have another year like this.

“We are on target with our 2020 numbers by doing it this way.”

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