Leechburg Council adopts budget with no tax increase for 2022

Leechburg property owners will not see an increase in borough property taxes next year.

Leechburg Councilvoted 4-0 to adopt the $1.2 million borough budget for 2022. Council member Lorraine Bazella was absent from the vote due to a personal matter.

The property tax rate will remain at 22.5 mills.

That means the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 will continue to pay borough taxes of $2,250.

Council President Tom Foster said the budget is tight for next year. Council member Chuck Pascal agreed, stressing that there is not much room for error.

“Council will have to be careful with its spending and services,” he said.

Property owners saw a slight increase in taxes of less than 1% in 2021.

The borough received $319,000 from a PennDOT multi-modal grant for a paving project planned for next summer for First and Second streets.

Representatives of the Leechburg Area Pool were present at the meeting to request a donation of $25,000 from the borough’s covid relief funds for the Leechburg Slide Fund. The pool is trying to raise $90,000 for a new water slide.

Officials have yet to decide how they will distribute the $208,000 of covid relief funds.

Gilpin Township officials donated $25,000 to the pool from the first half of their relief funds payment. The township plans to add an additional $25,000 when the second half of the relief funding arrives.

The Leechburg finance committee will meet in January to discuss how the borough should use the funds.