Berks County to Weigh $5.9M Redevelopment Loan Forgiveness

The Berks County commissioners meet Thursday, September 24, and the biggest item on the agenda would use nearly $6 million of county reserves to cancel a debt the county's own redevelopment authority owes it.

The move is folded into a routine-sounding budget resolution. If approved, the county would forgive the loan rather than collect it back.

The $5.9 million loan forgiveness

The vote is on Resolution 288.2026, a budget resolution that adjusts what the county is allowed to spend this year. Its largest single line appropriates $5,943,019 from the General Fund balance for an item the agenda calls "BCRDA – Promissory Loan Forgiveness."

A few definitions help here. An appropriation is money the commissioners authorize to be spent. The fund balance is the county's accumulated reserves, its savings. So this line spends from savings. A promissory loan is a loan with a written promise to repay; loan forgiveness means the lender cancels the debt and stops trying to collect it. In this case the county holds the loan, and the borrower is the Berks County Redevelopment Authority, a public authority the county created to carry out redevelopment and economic-development projects.

The agenda's full explanation reads: "Appropriating General Fund - Fund Balance to provide for the promissory loan forgiveness for the Berks County Redevelopment Authority." That is all it says. It does not state what the loan paid for, when it was made, or why it is being forgiven.

The redevelopment authority drew debate earlier this year. WFMZ reported that in April the commissioners voted 2-1, with Commissioner Dante Santoni Jr. dissenting, to approve a roughly $19.2 million funding agreement with the authority, about $12 million of it to support the Colebrookdale Railroad and the rest to let the authority consolidate earlier debts. The September 24 agenda does not say whether Thursday's forgiveness is connected to that agreement or to any other project.

The budget resolution also lists smaller changes that pull the totals in the other direction. Several are negative appropriations, which reverse money that was budgeted earlier. The county is deferring some purchases to 2027, including mailroom and printing equipment and Emergency Services vehicles; recording savings on a prison sallyport project that came in under budget and on canceled or under-budget park projects; and consolidating a Gring's Mill bridge refurbishment into a single bond-funded project. After those offsets, the resolution's appropriations total is listed as $5,716,458, plus $163,678 in internal budget transfers between accounts.

Two big running stories are not on this agenda. There is no item on the 600 Penn Street property, and no youth-detention bond sale.

Grants, purchasing and appointments

Resolution 289.2026 would set a county micro-purchase threshold of $50,000. A micro-purchase threshold is the dollar amount below which the county can buy goods or services without the fuller competitive-bidding process, under federal rules, where state law allows. The one-year term would take effect October 23, 2026.

Two resolutions authorize grant applications to the state's Local Share Account program, which distributes casino gaming revenue through the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Resolution 291.2026 seeks up to $17,628 for a utility vehicle at the County Fire Training Center in Reading. Resolution 292.2026 seeks up to $150,000 for power-load stretchers for the Coroner's Office.

Resolution 290.2026 would appoint Scott Hauseman of Sinking Spring to the Agricultural Land Preservation Board through December 31, 2028. CFO Laura Jones is also scheduled to present the 2025 Report of Annual Bond Compliance, a routine yearly review, not a new bond sale.

Contracts up for approval

The contract list, dated September 21, includes two placement contracts for the Children and Youth and Juvenile Probation offices: foster care through Benchmark Family Services at $78.99 to $112.13 a day, and female residential placement through Clear Vision Residential Treatment Services at $223.21 a day. Also listed is a separation agreement and release for Robert Brackbill of the Solicitor's Office, with severance of $8,495.70, paid fully by the county.

How to attend or comment

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. Thursday, September 24, at the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading, the board's usual meeting place. A Microsoft Teams link to watch or comment is posted with the agenda on the county's commissioners meetings page.

To comment, give your first name, last name and municipality. Each person gets one comment, with a 30-minute cap on public comment overall, and in-person speakers go first.

For more background, see how Berks County government works, the county budget, how to speak at a commissioners meeting, and our Sept. 17 recap.

A recap will follow once the county posts video or minutes.