It was a rough day to be a property owner in Pottsville on Wednesday.
After learning that Schuylkill County Commissioners approved a preliminary 2025 budget calling for a 3.5-mill increase, later in the day, City Council members approved the first reading of their $10.8 million preliminary spending plan for next year.
And that 2025 budget first reading includes a 3-mill tax increase. A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value. So, a property with an assessed value of $100,000 would owe $300 more than it did in 2024.
Bill Messaros, Pottsville’s new Director of Accounts and Finances on City Council, said Wednesday that revenues are expected to decrease in 2025 by 4.83%. Expenses, he said, are going up by $1,164,337 over 2024.
The proposed new tax rate, Messaros said, will result in an average $89 increase in a person’s tax bill in Pottsville.
Next year, Pottsville expects a slightly lower, by about 0.54% real estate tax collection rate and a reduction in health care premium refunds vs. 2024, when it received $180,000.
One local business, which was not identified, moved from for-profit to non-profit status, and will apparently significantly affect real estate collection revenue. Also, Pottsville no longer has any COVID relief funds to help plug a budget shortfall.
Some notable increased expenses, according to information provided by the City include a 20% increase in health insurance premiums and a $108,463 jump in pension payments to the city’s uniformed and non-uniformed.
To balance the budget, the City says, $1.2 million in expenses had to be cut. That $1.2 million will come from delaying several hirings as well as deferring several capital improvements. Pottsville said no jobs at City Hall will be cut.
City Administrator Tom Palamar said some of the capital improvement projects to be put off for a while include work at Pottsville’s JFK Pool as well as some upgrades to several playgrounds.
ALSO READ: Schuylkill Commissioners Approve Preliminary Budget with 3.5-Mill Increase in Property Taxes
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