Belle Vernon council approves 2020 budget without tax increase
BELLE VERNON – Borough residents got some good news from city hall Wednesday.
During a special meeting, council voted to approve the borough’s $640,000 balanced budget as advertised, and not raise taxes.
Council member Cliff Gorski said the budget includes a small loan for road paving. Residents will be assessed 6 mills for general purposes and 2 mills for road maintenance.
Mayor Gerald Jackson said the 2020 budget is nearly double the size of last year’s budget.
“Typically, our budget is about $330,000 but we added money collected from road taxes,” said Jackson. “We are using this extra money to move forward with the borough’s long-awaited street paving project.”
Last August, the voted to authorize the state Department of Transportation to prepare a contract for paving of Blind Lane; Johnson Avenue; Market, Chestnut, Mulberry, Wood and Third streets; and Postal, Pleasant and Long alleys.
Other streets will be repaved during the second phase of the project. No date was available for when the borough will put out bids for contractors or when the road paving will begin.
About $189,000 has been allocated for the road construction contract.