Oakmont budget raises taxes 33%

Oakmont property owners will be paying 33% more in real estate taxes this year.

Oakmont Council passed a budget calling for a real estate tax increase of 1.22 mills, taking the rate from 3.73 to 4.95 mills.

That means a home at the borough’s median assessed value of about $153,000 would see real estate taxes increase by about $186.

The budget includes almost $12.7 million in expenditures with just over $12.5 million in revenue. Borough Manager Scot Fodi said the deficit of just over $130,000 comes from the capital parks budget which can be edited depending on grant funds and projects completed through 2025.

“This deficit in capital parks comes about if every project slated for 2025 is undertaken,” Fodi said in an email.

He said borough officials will be categorizing projects as “must do,” “can do” and “defer to later year.”

The proposed budget, passed on Nov. 26, called for an even higher millage rate of 5.2 mills. The increase was needed to cover a more than $935,000 shortfall in the spending plan, officials said.

While working to lower the tax hike, council decided to decrease designated funding for parks projects from $340,000 to $200,000. They also decided to decrease designated funding for the borough’s library in the borough’s capital reserve from $85,000 to $42,500 for future improvements.

“Based on the timeline to get projects ‘shovel ready,’ we don’t envision projects truly commencing until 2026. So, the entire $85,000 was not necessary for the 2025 budget. Council can revisit placing additional funds into the library’s reserve in 2026,” Fodi said.

Fodi said the council was able to make changes with some cuts to the recreation board’s projects planned for 2025. He said five projects have been cut down to three.

“Maybe even less (projects) depending on how the grant funding occurs,” Fodi said.

Fodi said council is attempting to avoid dipping into the borough’s reserve funds.

“The only other thing we can cut out is bricks for the roads,” said Councilwoman Jennifer Paris.

Resident Glenn Armocida called the tax raise “preposterous.” He suggested council take a piecemeal approach where it raises taxes gradually over the years rather than a large hike at one time.

“Once there’s a tax increase, it doesn’t come back,” Armocida said. “It becomes the new baseline.”

He brought up how residents would be dealing with a triple tax increase. Allegheny County raised its property tax by 36%, and the Riverview School Board raised real estate taxes by 3.3% in June.

Armocida said council is running the risk of driving residents out of the borough.

But Fodi told Armocida, “When your millage rate is so low, even one mill is a significant percentage increase.”

Councilman John Arnold said the borough’s budget has to keep up with the borough’s care and maintenance.

“One of the reasons people leave a community is when the quality of life in the community starts to go down,” Arnold said. “That happens when parks and other recreational facilities are not maintained. It happens when roads are not maintained.”

“The boroughs and the commonwealth communities didn’t raise taxes in ’22 or ’23 because of covid,” Fodi said. “We’re not going to have an economic shutdown and say, ‘Oh by the way, we’re raising our millage rates.’ Nobody did.”

In 2023, the borough received $600,000 — essentially the equivalent of 1 mill — in funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act to put toward infrastructure. That funding has been exhausted and, Fodi said, council does not expect to see more federal funding coming to the municipality “in the following presidential term.”

“Everything we’ve been doing in the last several years has been nothing but capital improvements for the borough,” Fodi said. “Whether it being the sewer plant, the stormwater system, the road infrastructure system or the park system.”