Aspinwall officials approve nearly 22% tax hike for next year

Aspinwall property owners will have to pay about 22% more in real estate taxes next year.

Council voted 6-1 at its Dec. 13 meeting to adopt its 2024 budget and set the millage rate at 8.36 mills, a hike of 1.5 mills.

Councilwoman Patti McCaffrey dissented.

Borough Manager Melissa O’Malley said the tax increase is allocated at 1 mill for general purposes and a half-mill for emergency services. One mill generates about $250,000.

The 1.5-mill hike equates to $150 more in real estate taxes per $100,000 of assessed value.

The borough’s last tax increase was in 2019, from 5.86 mills to 6.86 mills.

McCaffrey said she knew a tax hike was on the horizon but was surprised to learn about how much it would be just a few weeks ago.

“I feel the (budgeting) process was flawed,” McCaffrey said. “Yes, I was on the committee. I think we, as a committee, could have and should have done more. There was no real discussion about where we might be able to tighten our belts and where we might be able to save some money.”

She did commend O’Malley and Assistant Borough Manager Dawn Eastley for their efforts, and continued to voice concerns about not finding ways to lower the tax hike.

Councilman Heth Turnquist, finance committee chair, said council followed the same budgetary process from previous years and said there were multiple opportunities to discuss expenses and revenues.

“I can’t answer questions I wasn’t asked,” Turnquist said. “I can’t hold meetings I wasn’t asked for.”

McCaffrey, who was appointed to council in February, said she was not involved in previous budgets.

“Now that I got to see how the sausage is made, it ain’t pretty,” she said. “I feel like we didn’t have those discussions about where we might be able to cut some things.”

Several council members voiced their support of Turnquist and how he handled the budgeting process.

They also cited a lengthy discussion about the budget and tax rate at the Dec. 6 workshop.

Council President Tim McLaughlin disagreed with McCaffrey after the Dec. 13 voting session about her claim nothing was done to curb spending.

“I thought it was a very thoughtful and well-crafted budget,” he said. “I think it addresses our future needs as well as some issues that we’ve maybe been kicking down the road for a little bit. When I first looked at the initial budget, I thought the tax increase was going to be higher. We worked our way to 1.5 (mills). People asking, ‘Did we cut? Did we move things around?’ We did do that.”

Council voted to advertise its preliminary budget Nov. 8.

O’Malley said there were no changes in the numbers in the final budget.

Projected revenue includes $2.025 million in property taxes; $990,850 in local enabling act taxes, such as mechanical device taxes and occupational taxes; $146,400 in fines, including $38,000 from street meter parking; and nearly $195,000 in miscellaneous revenues, including curb cuts and state contributions to the Firemen’s Relief and Pension Fund.

Projected expenses include $789,800 for police; $322,300 for highway maintenance, including snow and ice removal, material and supplies, lighting and salaries; $281,400 for insurance; $120,000 for fire protection; $98,300 for parks; and $51,600 for planning and zoning.

Capital projects include $475,000 for Fifth Street retaining wall repairs; $100,000 for brick patching and paving; $75,000 for a water valve replacement project; $50,000 toward a multiuse court and pickleball courts; and $50,000 for a parking study.

The borough expects to collect an additional $70,000 in revenue from fines and $60,000 in business privilege taxes in 2024.

Council voted in August to raise the business privilege tax from $100 to $500. That tax had not increased since 2004.