Berks County Forgives $5.9M Redevelopment Loan

The Berks County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, September 24, 2026, and approved a budget resolution that cancels a debt the county's own redevelopment authority owes it. The move uses $5,943,019 of county reserves to forgive the loan rather than collect it back. As it does at every meeting, the board approved its full agenda in a single block vote.

The $5.9 million loan forgiveness

Resolution 288.2026 is a budget resolution, the kind that adjusts what the county is allowed to spend during the 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 terms help here. An appropriation is money the commissioners authorize to be spent. The fund balance is the county's accumulated reserves, its savings. A promissory loan is a loan backed by a written promise to repay, and loan forgiveness means the lender cancels the debt and stops collecting. Here 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. Forgiving the loan means the county gives up money it was owed.

The agenda's full explanation is one sentence: "Appropriating General Fund - Fund Balance to provide for the promissory loan forgiveness for the Berks County Redevelopment Authority." It does not say 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 on April 30 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 for 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 loan forgiveness is by far the largest thing Resolution 288 does; the full $5,943,019 comes from General Fund reserves. The resolution's other lines are separate, unrelated housekeeping bundled into the same vote. Several are negative appropriations that reverse money budgeted earlier: purchases pushed to 2027 (mailroom and printing equipment, Emergency Services vehicles), recorded savings on a prison sallyport project and on canceled or under-budget park work, and a Gring's Mill bridge project shifted to bond funding. Some of those lines sit in other county funds, so they do not lower what the forgiveness draws from the General Fund. Added together, the resolution lists 2026 appropriations of $5,716,458 and $163,678 in transfers between accounts.

Grants, a purchasing rule and an appointment

Resolution 289.2026 set a county micro-purchase threshold of $50,000. That 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 takes effect October 23, 2026.

Two resolutions authorized 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 appointed Scott Hauseman of Sinking Spring to the Agricultural Land Preservation Board through December 31, 2028. Chief Financial Officer Laura Jones also presented the 2025 Report of Annual Bond Compliance, a routine yearly review and not a new borrowing.

Two big running stories were not on the agenda. There was no item on the 600 Penn Street property and no youth-detention bond sale.

Contracts

The contract listing, dated September 21, included two placement contracts for the county's child-welfare and juvenile-probation work: 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. The listing also included 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 the vote worked

Berks commissioners approve their agenda as a single block rather than voting on each resolution one by one. The meeting video runs the meeting in order: the call to order, the CFO's bond-compliance report, the agenda items, the approval of the agenda about 10 minutes in, reports from the Treasurer and Controller, commissioners' comments, and public comment. The county had not posted written minutes of the September 24 meeting at publication. The minutes, approved at the next meeting, record each commissioner's vote and any abstention, and we will update this recap if they differ from the agenda as presented.

The next commissioners' board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 1, at 10 a.m. at the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. For background, see our preview of this meeting, the September 17 recap, how Berks County government works, and how to watch or speak at a meeting.