New Bentleyville budget includes tax jump
Mayor has 10 days to veto
Bentleyville Council voted to reopen its 2026 budget, which calls for a one-mill tax increase.
The vote was passed in a 5-1 vote at a special meeting Thursday. Councilwoman Kara Shaw-Dearth cast the negative vote. Councilman Joseph Patress was not in attendance.
Mayor Adrian Gordon has 10 days to consider vetoing the new budget. Five votes are needed to override a veto.
“I really don’t have too much of a foot to stand on,” Gordon said Friday. “If I voted to veto and made an ordinance up, I’m going to be landslided when it comes to vote time anyway. I’m going to give it the full amount of time before I say anything. I’m going to wait until the 10 days are up until I make any mention of this.”
If the reopened budget is approved, it would be the borough’s first tax increase since 2018.
The new spending plan sets expenses and revenues at $1,256,317.51, reflecting an increase of more than $56,000 over the spending plan adopted in December. Millage will increase from 2.9 to 3.9 mills. The previous budget listed revenues at $1,200,828.45 and expenses at $1,223,028.45.
Council voted at a special meeting Jan. 12 to advertise a reopened spending plan for 2026 which would raise the millage from 2.9 to 3.9 mills. With a real estate tax rate of 0.1000000 for each $100 of assessment evaluation, a house assessed at $100,000 would result in an annual increase of $100 in taxes.
“Raising taxes isn’t a good thing to do, and I wish we didn’t have to do it,” said Joseph Pidgeon, council president. “I don’t see any other way out. We’d have to start cutting services.”
Councilwoman Kim Sacco, who prepared the reopened budget, explained after the Jan. 12 meeting that the borough has operated at a deficit for four of the last five years, and the previously approved 2026 budget would have left the borough with a large shortfall.
The reopened budget includes an increase in the borough’s contribution to its fire department. The adopted spending plan called for a $22,000 donation, only $1,000 more than what was contributed in 2018. The reopened budget includes $30,000 for the fire department.
The new budget also includes higher wages for borough personnel, including the secretary, police chief and street supervisor.
The budget is available for public review at the borough building and on the borough’s website.