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Despite the budget being advertised and the millage rate increased at the last meeting of Palmyra Borough Council, members continued budget talks at their Dec. 10 session.
The millage rate will increase from 4.11 mills in 2024 to 5.3 mills in 2025, if the spending plan is approved.
Read More: Palmyra Borough residents will see higher taxes, trash & sewer bills in 2025
Resident Bill Zeiders got up during the first public comment period to say he objects to the tax increase.
“It’s raising us up where you can’t afford to pay your taxes and live here,” he said. “Businesses don’t want to come here because of it.”
Councilman Anthony Catalani said he appreciated Zeiders coming in too express his concerns.
“I hear it so much out in the community, hear it online, but I don’t have enough community members who come in and voice it,” he said.
Members took another look through the budget to try to find any final cuts, with Jane Quairoli suggesting council remove the mayor’s salary.
They voted 6-1 to draft an ordinance that would remove the salary for the mayor’s position, which would save $2,300. Matthew Andrews was the dissenting vote.
Council members used to receive a $600 salary, but they chose to do away with it in 2015.
If council approves the ordinance at a future meeting, it will not take effect until the next mayoral term starts at the beginning of 2026.
Currently, the mayor’s duties include breaking ties, sitting as a non-voting member of the police commission, and being the first in charge in the event of an emergency.
Catalani, continuing his suggestion from previous budget meetings, said they should reconsider the borough’s $36,900 ambulance contract with Life Lion and find a cheaper option instead. Other council members disagreed, pointing out only two companies submitted bids, and they chose what they felt was the best option.
And even with a cheaper contract, they still would have been several hundred thousand dollars short and require a tax increase.
Quairoli, repeating herself from other meetings, said she has struggled with this year’s budget because there aren’t many line items that can be cut.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m going to struggle,” she said. “I’m going to struggle with paying this and then the updated sewer and the trash. It’s killing me.”
Council president Beth Shearer eventually ended the discussion, saying they were talking in circles and “getting nowhere.”
“There is nothing that is an easy fix for this budget,” Shearer said. “Like [Quairoli] said, there’s always been something that I’ve been able to say, ‘Let’s get rid of this, let’s cut this,’ and there’s nothing.”
Council will vote whether to approve the final 2025 budget at its next meeting.
In other business, council unanimously approved several waivers for the new 21,000-square-foot Caring Cupboard building that will include a food pantry, a community space and 12 affordable housing units on East Broad Street. Powl said this is the last part of the project that will require the council’s approval.
Palmyra Borough Council will meet next at 325 S. Railroad St. on Monday, Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. Meetings are also streamed on the Palmyra Borough, Lebanon County Pennsylvania YouTube page.
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