Nov 22, 2016 By Rachel Basinger for The 3 min read

MOUNT PLEASANT — Borough residents will likely see the first tax increase in 13 years.

Borough council voted this week to increase millage by 2.5 mills from 16 to 18.5 mills, and to approve the proposed 2017 budget which has a shortfall of over $11,000 even after the millage increase.

Councilman David Pritts was the only member to vote against the two motions.

Members of council are able to lower the millage for the final budget, and Councilwoman Diane Bailey, director of finance and human resources, said they will be working in the next couple weeks to make as many cuts as they are able.

Council cannot raise the millage any higher than the 2.5 mills for their final budget.

The total income in the proposed 2017 budget is set at $1,272,797 with expenditures set at $1,284,176, showing a deficit of $11,379.

Bailey said 1 mill brings in about $33,000 in revenue to the borough. Without the built in 2.5-mill increase, the proposed budget would have shown a deficit of more than $78,000.

“Jeff (Landy, borough manager) and I took out as much as we thought we could take out without talking to the different department heads, but we need to make more cuts to this budget,” she said.

Some of the reasons for the deficit, said Bailey, include a loss in tenants in borough rental properties and an increase in the street department expenditures due to increases in paving project, and an increase in the building and maintenance budget.

Bailey said the proposed budget also had a line item for another full-time police officer position, which was $43,000.

Councilwoman Cynthia Stevenson asked if council ever approved that, but Bailey said the budget is the wish list of the different departments.

Bailey added that it’s certainly up to council if they want to keep that in the budget.

Police Chief Doug Sam has asked council for permission to hire a new full-time officer since early this year, but was never given the go-ahead because the money wasn’t in the budget.

No move was made to remove that expense from the budget.

Landy said he estimates officials will have an approximate $50,000 carry over from the 2016 budget, which could be put into savings, allocated for different departments or projects or used to help balance the budget.

That might be an option, or at least a consideration, in the days leading up to council’s Dec. 5 meeting where they hope to pass a final budget.

If they cannot come to a decision on a final balanced budget by Dec. 5, they will have to schedule another meeting before the end of the year.

In other business, the Mount Pleasant Business District Authority (BDA) asked council to approve its 2017 budget, which shows income at $37,243.84 and expenses at $67,597.84.

The motion died for lack of a second. Solicitor Deanna Liptak said if council approved the motion, and the authority encountered financial problems, the borough could be liable for the deficit.

Council did approve a motion to renew the appointments of Tony Vecchio and Jason Wisniewski to the authority’s board of directors for three-year terms to expire on Dec. 31, 2019, and awarded Nino Barsotti the title of emeritus director for the authority.