Proposed Sharpsburg budget has no real estate tax hike, maintains sewer rates

Sharpsburg officials plan to hold the line on real estate taxes and sewage fees as part of next year’s budget.

Council is expected to delineate its proposed 2025 spending plan during a workshop meeting Nov. 14 with possible adoption slated for Nov. 21.

Municipalities must adopt a balanced budget by the end of the year.

A draft of the budget was made available at the borough office and posted in the finance section of Sharpsburg’s official website earlier this month.

Projected revenues and expenditures were listed at $4,653,679.

Income includes about $1.4 million in intergovernmental revenues, $1.3 million in real estate taxes, $857,000 in Act 511 taxes such as earned income and business privilege taxes, $572,000 in solid waste collection, $90,000 in licenses and permits, $85,500 in charges for services and $13,000 in fines and forfeitures.

Spending includes about $1.1 million for police services, $556,300 for waste collection, $184,800 for code enforcement, $146,000 for fire protection, $132,000 for the borough manager including insurances and salary, $56,500 for accounting including auditing services and payroll processing, $53,000 for mayor and council including insurances and salaries, $50,000 for legal services, $42,000 for tax collection, $39,400 for engineering services and $10,000 for EMS.

The borough also allocated $150,000 for paving. It is unclear how many streets will be repaired next year.

Sarah Ishman, councilwoman and finance committee chair, said it took a lot of hard work to get to this point in the financial process.

“We have made a lot of small cuts, and those choices made it possible to keep taxes and sewage rates the same,” Ishman said Nov. 6. “I give a lot of credit to our borough manager (Christine DeRunk) and our borough staff for being diligent stewards of borough funds.”

The manager said several factors, including having to spend less than budgeted this year and earning “significant interest” through higher-yield checking accounts, reduced the need for a potential tax hike next year.

DeRunk said the spending plan has multiple highlights for residents.

“For 2025, we are planning to pave roadways, make improvements to Kennedy Park to install a new basketball court, install new ADA ramps and install new catch basins,” said DeRunk on Nov. 7. “We have other grants that are pending.”

Voting on the borough budget will be one of the first major decisions in the budding career of new Councilman Roman Mason.

Mason, 19, an accounting student at Duquesne University, was appointed to council Oct. 24.

He took over for former Councilwoman Kacie Cope, who resigned in late September.

Mason said he was still reviewing the budget and is excited to be involved in the business aspect of borough leadership.

“It’s been pretty cool to see the things you learn about in classes applied to the real world,” said Mason on Nov. 7. “Not making constituents of Sharpsburg pay more money is always a good case.”

Mason said he has not pushed for any additions to the budget given the timing of his appointment shortly before its approval.

He plans to have more input in the financial process next year.