Berks County Weighs $179K Deal for Financial Statements

The Berks County Board of Commissioners meets Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 10 a.m. in the 13th-floor boardroom of the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. It is a routine agenda, with no presentations, hearings or appointments to county boards. The items that touch county money most directly are a $179,450 contract to have an outside firm prepare the county's financial statements, notice ending two employee insurance policies with Lincoln Financial Group, and two grant agreements with the City of Reading.

$179,450 to prepare the county's financial statements

Item 8 on the contract list dated October 19 engages Susquehanna Accounting & Consulting Solutions, Inc. for "financial statement preparation services" for the year ending December 31, 2026, with options for 2027, 2028 and 2029. The amount "shall not exceed $179,450.00 during this term," all county money, for the Controller's Office.

Financial statements are the year-end books that show what the county took in, spent, owns and owes. Berks publishes them each year as an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report on the Controller's financial statements page. The 2025 report says it "was prepared by the Office of the Controller on behalf of the Board of Commissioners" and audited by Zelenkofske Axelrod, LLC. This contract is for preparing the statements, not auditing them. The packet does not say why the office is hiring a firm, whether it did the work in-house before, or how the money splits across the four possible years.

Lincoln accident and critical-illness policies end Dec. 31

Resolution 320.2026 authorizes Chief Operations Officer Kevin Barnhardt to send Lincoln notice "terminating its Group Accident and Critical Illness insurance policies currently held with Lincoln," effective 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2026, under the "Termination by Group Policyholder" sections of each policy.

These are workplace benefits that pay cash on top of health insurance. Lincoln's product fliers, which describe the products generally rather than the county's policies, say its group accident insurance "pays your employees cash payments if they suffer a covered accidental injury," and its group critical illness insurance pays "lump-sum cash payments to your employees upon diagnosis of covered illnesses or events." The accident flier says premiums "are paid via payroll deduction," the way Lincoln markets these as employee-paid voluntary benefits; the packet does not say how the county's plans are funded. It also names no replacement carrier, gives no reason, and does not say how many employees hold the coverage; the resolution says the Dec. 31 date was "agreed to by the County of Berks and Lincoln."

Two JAG agreements with Reading, no dollar figures

Resolutions 318 and 319.2026 authorize Chair Christian Leinbach to sign memorandums of understanding with the City of Reading for the 2025 and 2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants. In each, Reading "will serve as the fiscal agent for the grant and agrees to allocate grant funding to Berks County Law Enforcement Departments." The 2025 agreement is "subject to final review" by the Solicitor's Office. Neither agreement is in the packet, and no amounts are given.

JAG is, in the U.S. Department of Justice's description, "the leading source of federal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions," for personnel, equipment, training and technology in policing, prosecution, courts and corrections. The department's tables list Berks County and Reading as one group, with a joint allocation of $61,088 for 2025 and $49,329 for 2026. In both tables, Reading earns the whole amount and Berks County's own line is an asterisk. The department's program guidance calls that a "zero-county disparity": a city qualifies for a direct award and its county does not, yet the county "is responsible for providing criminal justice services (such as prosecution and incarceration) for the municipality," so "the county is entitled to part of the municipality's award." The localities "must sign a Memorandum of Understanding" naming a fiscal agent and the amounts each receives, and the guidance says there is "no requirement to use the 'direct allocation' amounts"; the split is whatever the two negotiate. Thursday's resolutions authorize that agreement without saying how much of Reading's grant the county will take. Reading City Council authorized a $49,329 JAG application on October 12, the Reading Eagle reported, per our council recap; the city has not posted minutes of that meeting.

$1.48 million in opioid-response money and the rest of the contracts

Item 12 amends the county's agreement with the Council on Chemical Abuse, its contractor for "community drug and alcohol prevention, and treatment services," so that State Opioid Response IV grant funding "shall not exceed $1,482,130.67" for fiscal year 2026-27, 40 percent state and 60 percent federal. Also on the list:

• Three federally funded amendments with Educational Data Systems, Inc., the CareerLink operator, raising caps to $469,009.54 for business services and $1,417,670.17 for adult and dislocated-worker services, and adding $64,731.86 for community outreach that lifts a third agreement to $1,262,913.22.
• Two state-funded contracts for 2027 through 2029 in HealthChoices, the Medicaid behavioral-health program: Deerfield Data Management, up to $269,700, and KidsPeace walk-in mental-health assessments, up to $270,000.
• County-funded: a 60-month Pitney Bowes postage-meter lease for the Magisterial District Courts, $49,724.40 in all; $5,755.06 for RightFax maintenance; $3,648 for a CAD server migration; and a term extension, same amount, for the Reading Skatepark Association's shade-structure grant.
• Placement per-diem rates with Concern Professional Services, 13 percent county money, and no-cost agreements for hospice care at Berks Heim and a federal health-privacy business-associate agreement with Propio.

Budget listing: a jail kitchen-kettle project came in under budget

Resolution 316.2026 authorizes $134,032 in transfers and appropriations of negative $294,024 per the October 16 listing. A transfer moves budgeted money between lines; a negative appropriation takes back money budgeted earlier. The transfers shift Children and Youth Services grant money to a new "Family Finding" grant. The appropriations return $37,409 to the general fund because the jail's "Kitchen Kettle" capital project cost less than expected, draw $26,489 to relocate the jail's network switches, add $19,350 in federal Title IV-B child-welfare money and a $2,500 grant for indigent hygiene supplies in Adult Probation, and correct Children and Youth reimbursement splits among the state Act 148 fund, the county match and the general fund, including a $304,954 cut in the general fund's deficit transfer. Our report on the new jail project covers the facility's larger future.

Two hires, a tax filing, and the Oct. 15 minutes

Resolution 317.2026 appoints Eleni Willman as Pension Coordinator in Human Resources at $59,000 a year, effective October 28, replacing Jonnelle Keller, who separated, and promotes Brittany DiObilda from Certified Legal Intern to Assistant District Attorney I at $68,500, also October 28, replacing Nathaniel Griesbaum, who was promoted. A separate motion authorizes execution of the third-quarter 2026 Local Earned Income Tax and Local Services Tax; the agenda does not describe the item beyond its title.

The packet carries the county's first written record of the October 15 meeting, in draft minutes the board will be asked to approve; the video was already on BCTV. They record the agenda approved as published, including Resolutions 309 through 315.2026, no public comment, and adjournment at 11:03 a.m. Deputy Chief Operations Officer Larry Medaglia Jr. "discussed the county's internal 'Budget Diet' initiative and the efforts of the Savings and Efficiencies Committee." The minutes do not describe either. The attached budget slides are a version of the deck our October 15 recap covered: complying with the county's fiscal policy in 2027 means a 3.4 percent tax increase, cuts to libraries, parks and other programs that total $15.8 million, or a mix of both. Our 2026 budget report shows where the current $690 million goes.

How to attend or comment

The meeting is in person at the 13th Floor Commissioners' Boardroom, Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading, and live on Microsoft Teams and BCTV; the county's meeting notice carries the Teams link, and the meetings page explains how links are posted. Comments are taken in person or through the Teams Q&A; give your first name, last name and municipality or the comment will not be considered; one comment per person; in-person speakers first; 30 minutes total unless the board extends it. See how to speak at a commissioners meeting and how Berks County government works. A recap will follow once the county posts the video or minutes.