Berks County Eyes 2027 Budget, $1.55M in Housing Requests

The Berks County Board of Commissioners meets Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the 13th-floor boardroom of the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading, with Microsoft Teams and BCTV options to follow from home. The first presentation on the agenda is the item that reaches every county taxpayer: Chief Financial Officer Laura Jones will give an update on the 2027 budget, the spending plan that sets next year's county property-tax rate. The board will also vote on letters backing $1.55 million in state housing requests from three local groups, a budget shift that pays outside lawyers for child-welfare legal work because of a vacancy in the county Solicitor's office, and about $381,000 in building work at the Services Center and the county jail.

The 2027 budget update

The agenda lists the presentation by title only. No slides, figures or draft budget are attached to the packet, so there is no way to know before Thursday whether the county expects to hold, raise or cut the tax rate for 2027.

For context, the county's 2026 budget authorized $690 million in spending and held the county tax rate at 9.013 mills after two years of increases, with reserves covering a gap of roughly $16 million between what the general fund takes in and what it spends. Our report on where the county's $690 million budget goes walks through those numbers. The county adopted that budget in December 2025. The packet gives no timeline for a proposed 2027 budget or a final vote.

A second presentation, by Pam Menet, director of Community and Economic Development, and Kim Fies, executive director of the Department of Agriculture, covers Bountiful Berks. The packet does not describe it. The county Department of Agriculture's website presents Bountiful Berks as its buy-local brand, including a Market Guide and online map of more than 250 places in the county to buy local food.

Letters of support for $1.55 million in housing requests

Resolutions 311, 312 and 313.2026 authorize letters of support for three applications to the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement fund, known as PHARE. These are letters, not grants. The agenda commits no county money to any of the three; the state decides whether to fund the applications. The requests total $1,550,000:

• Habitat for Humanity of Berks County, $300,000 for its "Buttonwood Gateway" project. The agenda does not say where the project is or what it would build.
• Opportunity House, $750,000 for "Pathways at 325," which the agenda describes as "a proposed permanent affordable housing development at 325 S. 12th Street in Reading, Pennsylvania."
• The Berks County Redevelopment Authority, $500,000 for its Eviction Prevention Program.

Opportunity House is also in the news for a separate request. As the Reading Eagle reported Oct. 13, the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness and Opportunity House presented a coordinated severe-weather shelter plan to Reading City Council on Oct. 12 and have asked both the city and the county for $350,000 each for 2027. That county request is not on Thursday's agenda, and the PHARE letter for the 12th Street housing project is a different item.

$91,062 to outside lawyers for child-welfare legal work

Resolution 309.2026 is the weekly budget resolution. It authorizes $110,645 in transfers between accounts and appropriations of negative $114,079, per a listing dated October 9. A transfer moves money the county already budgeted from one line to another; a negative appropriation takes back money that was budgeted earlier.

The largest line moves $91,062 inside Children and Youth Services, the county's child-welfare agency, from an account labeled "Quasi - Legal Fees" to "Professional Fees." The listing's explanation: "Transferring CYS/Solicitor Quasi funds to provide for outsourced professional legal service due to Solicitor vacancy." A matching entry cuts $91,062 in expected revenue from the Solicitor's office, under an account named "Quasi - CYS/Solicitor Attorney Fees." The packet does not spell out the arrangement, but the pairing suggests work the county Solicitor's office had been doing for Children and Youth Services, and getting paid for internally, will go to outside lawyers instead.

The packet does not say which position is vacant, how long it has been open, or who the outside firm is. It is not the top job: the county's Oct. 8 Election Board agenda lists Christine M. Sadler as County Solicitor. Our Sept. 24 recap noted a separation agreement for Robert Brackbill of the Solicitor's Office on that week's contract list; the packet does not say whether that departure is the vacancy involved here.

The rest of the listing is smaller:

• Juvenile Probation shifts $19,583 between wage accounts for a change in a grant allocation, and books a $51,595 state grant plus a $5,733 county share for what the listing calls a "JPO Promising Practice Special Grant" for fiscal year 2026-27.
• Agricultural Land Preservation gives back $10,000 ($9,878 in equipment rental and $122 in landscaping) that was budgeted for 2026 and is being deferred to 2027 to support a spring tire-collection event run by the Department of Agriculture.
• Adult Probation takes $70,345 off its 2026 wage line because of a 2026 "VIP" grant application that would reimburse those wages. The listing does not spell out the grant's name.

Jail sergeant, emergency-services manager and an arraignment stipend

Resolution 310.2026 covers three personnel items. Andres Rosario would be appointed Sergeant in the Jail System at $82,531 a year, effective October 21, replacing Brandon Nemeth, who was promoted; the posted range for the job tops out at $85,872. Todd Boughter would become Training and Education Manager in the Department of Emergency Services at $90,500 a year, effective November 12, replacing Nelson Lopez, who transferred.

The third item raises the county's arraignment stipend to $100 per pay period, effective October 16, "per the attached memorandum." The memo is not in the public packet. The agenda says only that the rate "has not been revised since 2007," so it does not state the current rate or who receives it.

Resolutions 314 and 315.2026 authorize Chair Christian Leinbach to sign a State Food Purchase Program grant agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for state fiscal year 2026 (Contract # ME 442611953) and a related worker-protection certification form. The packet does not give a dollar amount.

$381,000 for a chiller and jail paving

The contract list, dated October 9, carries 13 items. Two are building projects paid entirely with county money:

• Carrier would supply and install a chiller, the large cooling unit for a building's air conditioning, at the County Services Center for up to $189,160.
• Change Order #1 to the county's agreement with Construction Masters Services, LLC adds "additional paving at the Berks County Jail," 1287 County Welfare Road, Leesport, for up to $192,286.18. The packet does not state the base contract amount, so the project's full cost is not shown.

Also on the list:

• A grant agreement with ReadingFilmFest, doing business as ReadingFilm Office, for up to $75,000 in county money through June 30, 2029. The agreement falls under the placemaking section of the IMAGINE Berks economic-development plan and calls for yearly film festivals, help with filming and location inquiries, and training workshops for local creatives.
• Four right-of-way settlements for the Levengood Road bridge project in Amity Township, paid to four parties at $806, $500, $501.50 and $500, a combined $2,307.50.
• Up to $4,000 to Lamar to advertise the county parks' holiday lights from November 26 through December 23.
• Children and Youth Services placement and evaluation contracts, funded 13 percent by the county with the rest from state, federal and other sources: per-day rates at Pediatric Specialty Care at Point Pleasant of $199 for room and board and $1,500 for resident care; placement per-day rates at Children's Choice, Inc. ranging from $57.33 for one level of medical foster care to $155.94 for its highest intensive level; $3,000 attachment and parental-capacity assessments by Hearthfire Psychology; and a new fee schedule at Pathways Adolescent Center that sets diagnostic evaluations at $4,000.
• A no-cost agreement letting Capella University social-work students train at Children and Youth Services.

What is not on the agenda

There is no 600 Penn Street item, no courthouse item and no youth detention center bond on Thursday's agenda. The running story on the county's plan to buy the former Wells Fargo tower is on our 600 Penn Street tracker.

The packet includes draft minutes of the October 8 meeting: all three commissioners attended, the board approved the agenda as presented, including Resolutions 304 through 308.2026, an executive session on October 7 covered security, litigation and personnel, one Cumru Township resident commented online about ICE, and the meeting adjourned at 10:35 a.m.

The county Election Board is listed on the county calendar for 11 a.m. Thursday, "as needed," after the commissioners. Its agenda had not been posted as of Wednesday. Our preview of its October polling-place changes covers the board's recent business.

How to attend or comment

• In person: 13th Floor Commissioners' Boardroom, Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. The meeting starts at 10 a.m.
• Online: the county's meeting notice lists the meeting as in person and live on Microsoft Teams and BCTV, and carries the Teams join link and the agenda. The commissioners meetings page explains how the links are posted.
• Comment rules: give your first name, last name and municipality; one comment per person; online comments go through the Teams Q&A and are read aloud if the solicitor finds them germane to county business; the whole comment period is limited to 30 minutes unless the board extends it, with in-person speakers first.

New to this? See how to speak at a commissioners meeting, and for what the county runs versus the state and your township, how Berks County government works. A recap will follow once the county posts the meeting video or minutes.