Berks County accepts grant to run Nov. 3 election

The Berks County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, August 6, 2026, and accepted a state grant that helps pay for running the November election. The board approved its agenda by voice vote, which adopted the grant contract along with a settlement of a property-assessment appeal and a short list of routine county business.

State money to run the election

The board voted to accept an Election Integrity Grant from the state and authorized Chair Christian Leinbach and Chief Operations Officer Kevin Barnhardt to sign the contract, resolution 235.2026. The agreement provides money "for the administration of the 2026 General Election and the 2027 Municipal Primary Election," which means the fall ballot on November 3 and next year's spring primary.

The grant program comes from a 2022 state law, Act 88, run by the Department of Community and Economic Development. The state sets each county's share by a formula: the county's registered-voter count at the most recent primary, divided by the statewide total, times the money the Legislature put in the program. The agenda listed no dollar figure for Berks.

Counties can spend the money only on a fixed list of election jobs, including paying poll workers on election day, printing ballots, training the people who run each precinct, processing voter registrations, and staffing the count of mail-in and absentee ballots. A county that takes the grant agrees to run its count on the state's clock: it must begin opening mail-in and absentee ballots at 7 a.m. on election day and keep going without stopping until every ballot that arrived by then is processed, begin counting those ballots at 8 p.m. when the polls close, and post unofficial results after midnight. The county also reports to the state how it spent the money within 90 days of each election.

For what the November ballot decides and how to vote, see the 2026 election guide. The county is still recruiting the election-day staff this grant helps pay; here is how to become a poll worker.

A property-assessment settlement

The board authorized the county solicitor to sign settlement papers ending a court fight over a property assessment, resolution 238.2026. The taxpayer, listed as CCP Berks LLC, had appealed its assessment past the county's Board of Assessment Appeals and into county court, the last step in the appeal process. The resolution authorizes a settlement but does not state its terms, so the new assessed value is not public.

An assessment is the dollar value the county puts on a property, and it sets how much county, municipal, and school tax the owner pays. When a large property's value drops in a settlement, the rest of the tax base carries a little more. Any owner can start the same appeal each year; here is how to appeal your assessment.

The rest of what passed

• A budget transfer (233.2026). The board moved $74,324 between existing accounts in Children and Youth Services to keep emergency-services payments coded correctly under a state welfare program. It shifts money rather than adding new spending.
• A promotion (234.2026). A part-time paid intern in the District Attorney's office, Jason Metz, becomes a full-time certified legal intern at $59,500 a year, effective August 24.
• Deer control (236.2026). The board let the Parks and Recreation director apply for a state Game Commission permit to manage deer on county land.
• Camp Joy Lodge (237.2026). A resolution backs building upgrades at Camp Joy Lodge in Leesport, a county property used by the Council on Chemical Abuse, the county's drug-and-alcohol agency. The work covers the fire alarm, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical, windows, and interior repairs.
• County internet. The contract behind the July 30 vote to add bandwidth from the county's fiber provider, Zayo, is now on the list with a price: raising the county's connection from 1 to 10 gigabits at a cost not to exceed $148,800 over five years.
• Children and Youth placements. Most of the contract list is annual per-day agreements with foster care, group home, and shelter providers that take county-referred children, plus state-funded case-management deals through the county's mental-health office.
• July 30 minutes. The board approved the written record of its previous meeting, which was posted inside this agenda packet.

How the vote worked

Berks commissioners approve their entire agenda with a single voice vote rather than voting on each resolution separately. The meeting video shows the agenda read and approved, followed by reports from the Treasurer and Controller and the chief operations officer, commissioners' comments, and comments from row officers. The county had not posted separate written minutes of the August 6 meeting at publication, and we will update this recap if they show any change.

The next commissioners' board meeting is Thursday, August 13, at 10 a.m. at the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. Thursday's agenda was covered in our preview. For how these meetings run and how to speak at one, see our guide, and for what the county controls versus the state and your township, see how Berks County government works.