Cheswick budget maintains property taxes, increases sewage, trash rates

Cheswick Council approved its 2025 budget on Tuesday with no tax increase, but residents will see increases in their trash and sewage rates.

The fixed sewage rate for borough customers will increase 12%, or $10.68 per quarter, from $88.03 to $98.71. The increase is to cover the borough’s share of an overhaul project at the Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority Treatment Plant in Harmar, officials said.

Garbage rates will increase 39%, or $19 per quarter, from $49 to $68, based on a new joint contract the borough inked with Springdale and Springdale Township.

The millage rate remains at 5.85 mills in the $2.6 million budget. Water rates held at $46 a quarter and $2.81 per 1,000 gallons.

“We are all very mindful of how and where we spend taxpayer money,” council President Brad Yaksich said. “We keep our expenses low, finances in their proper buckets and treat grants as a gift and not a way to balance the budget.

“As a result, Cheswick is in a good place financially, and we did not have to raise taxes in 2025. But with the cost of everything increasing, I am not sure what the future will hold … but we will continue to do all we can to be financially responsible to the residents of Cheswick Borough.”

A property with Cheswick’s median assessed value of $106,650 will continue to pay about $624 in borough property taxes annually.

The budget calls for a few projects, with the majority of those costs being covered by various grants. It includes $70,000 for a water line and paving project on Highland Avenue, $120,000 for the same work on Pine Street and $45,000 for part of Spruce Street. A total of $46,000 is allotted for four other streets to be paved.

It also provides $36,000 for a bathroom/concession area at Rachel Carson Park and $320,000 for future phases of a water meter installation project at every home in the borough.