Brackenridge residents will see a 12% tax increase next year.
Council approved its $1.2 million general fund budget, which calls for a millage increase from 6.25 to 7 mills.
The owner of a home at the borough’s median assessed value of $50,900 would pay about $38 more, or $356.
“The last time we saw an increase was about 2018,” Mayor Lindsay Fraser said. “Costs are up across the board.”
The borough recently negotiated new contracts with the public works department and police, but Fraser said salaries are not to blame for the tax increase.
“Our employees keep our town going,” she said. “We want to pay them what they’re worth.”
Costs for equipment and supplies have gone up, Fraser said, and Brackenridge lacks the commercial real estate to garner large revenue.
“We run a tight budget,” she said.
Residents can look forward to the start of a major infrastructure project in January with the $1 million sinkhole restoration along Roup Avenue.
Work there is expected to correct flooding that has been a problem near Ninth Avenue and Morgan Street. The project will include rerouting lines in that area.
Council has been pushing for the project since last year, when the sinkhole first opened.
Borough engineer Gordon Taylor previously said the sinkhole is the result of a leak or a break in a sewer line that was installed likely in the early 1900s. The hole is about 5- or 6-feet wide on the surface of the street and narrows as it extends about 25 feet below ground.
It’s about 60 feet from the intersection of Morgan Street and the 1000 block of Roup Avenue.
“It’s a big project and should address problems there,” Fraser said.
