Robesonia Eyes New EMS Tax; Topton, Spring Weigh Tap Fees

Robesonia Borough Council is set to vote Monday night on advertising its 2027 tax rate, and for the first time the agenda says that rate includes an EMS tax. The one-page workshop agenda, posted Friday, lists "Authorization to Advertise Tax Rate for 2027, including EMS Tax" as the first item of business, four weeks after council's Oct. 19 workshop minutes recorded only "the possibility" of such a tax. The borough has not posted its budget or a rate online.

Across the county the same week, two governments take up tapping fees, the one-time charge a new building pays to connect to a public water or sewer system: Topton Borough Council hears its engineer's "Tapping Fee Calculations for Water and Sewer" Monday, and Spring Township's Infrastructure Committee has a "Township Tapping Fee in Accordance with ACT 57 of 2003" on its Tuesday agenda. Rockland Township's planners and supervisors meet Wednesday on whether to send a final draft data-center ordinance to the county, a step Jefferson Township's supervisors took up this morning. And the 2027 budget calendar fills in: Rockland votes Monday at 4 p.m. on advertising its budget, Penn Township has canceled Monday's work session and set a 7 a.m. Saturday budget meeting, Marion Township has advertised a budget at its current 4.75 mills, Oley Township reviewed its draft this morning, and Kenhorst has published a second budget notice.

Robesonia: a tax rate vote with an EMS line, and no number

Council's workshop is Monday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. The agenda prints no location; the borough's agendas page says council meets at Borough Hall, and the Oct. 19 workshop minutes put that building at 75 S. Brooke St. The agenda assigns the tax-rate item to "Mark"; the roll call lists Mark Spotts first, and the minutes identify him as council president.

An EMS tax is a property tax levied to support the ambulance and rescue service that covers a town. The Oct. 19 minutes say council "discussed the proposed 2027 budget, including the possibility of implementing an EMS readiness tax to be included on next year's tax bills," and that council "hopes to approve advertising the proposed budget at the November meeting, pending further review and discussion." Our recap of the October meetings covered that discussion. Monday's agenda moves the tax from a possibility to a line in the rate council is asked to advertise.

The borough has not posted a budget, a rate or an ordinance online; the only other file on the agendas page is a 2024 public-meeting policy resolution. State law sets a ceiling. The Borough Code's Section 1302(a)(9) lets a borough tax "for the purpose of supporting ambulance, rescue and other emergency services serving the borough, not to exceed one-half mill, except as provided in subsection (e)." Subsection (e) lets voters lift that cap in a referendum, "in which case the rate shall not exceed two mills." Robesonia's current borough rate is 4.9 mills, listed as 0.0049000 in the county's 2026 tax rate table. A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so a home assessed at $100,000 pays $490 a year to the borough by our arithmetic, and a half-mill EMS tax would add $50. Whether council also means to change the 4.9 mills is not on the record. Our rate table compares every Berks municipality.

The budget itself is on paper at Borough Hall. Council's Nov. 2 agenda listed the schedule as "11/03: Advertise," "11-09 – 11/20: Public Inspection" and "12/07: Adopt Final 2027 Budget," and it followed that schedule: a legal notice in the Saturday, Nov. 7 Reading Eagle says "the Borough of Robesonia has the proposed Budget for fiscal year 2027 available for inspection at the Robesonia Borough Hall which is located at 75 S. Brooke St. Robesonia, PA 19551. Borough Hall hours are Monday-Friday 9:30 AM-1:30PM," per the free excerpt indexed on publicnoticepa.com as notice 2492438; the sentence naming the adoption date is cut off behind the site's challenge page. So the budget was advertised and can be read at Borough Hall during those hours. What cannot be read online is the budget, whether it carries an EMS line, and the rate; Monday's vote is on advertising the tax rate, the separate step that would put a number on the EMS tax. No minutes of the Nov. 2 meeting are posted; the minutes page ends with the Oct. 5 and Oct. 19 sets. On Oct. 5, before the tax surfaced in the minutes, resident David Randler "inquired about how EMS billing would be handled for apartments and businesses within the Borough," per the Oct. 5 minutes, which record no answer. Berks Beat has not verified the speakers' accounts; they are reported as the minutes record them.

Two more items are listed: "Rodney Soliday Resignation Letter from the Robesonia Municipal Authority" and "Borough Hall Hours." The agenda does not say why Soliday is leaving or what change in hours is proposed. Council ends with an executive session on the "Police Contract" and the "Furnace Hill HOA Lease Agreement." Both carry over from October: on Oct. 19 council hired Mark Merolla "as Special Conflict Solicitor for the Borough to review the police contract" after an Oct. 5 public hearing at which three of five speakers asked for more police hours, and on the Furnace Hill garage lease the borough "will await the Solicitor's official legal opinion before proceeding further," per the two sets of minutes. Any vote would have to come in open session. Public comment follows the rules printed on the agenda: three minutes for a non-agenda item, five for an agenda item, name and address at the podium.

Topton: tapping fees, a Dec. 7 budget vote, a well and a dog ordinance

Topton Borough Council meets Monday at 7 p.m., per its agenda, printed Friday morning; the agenda names no location, and the borough's budget notice puts council's December meeting at Borough Hall, 205 South Callowhill Street. Under the engineer's report is "Tapping Fee Calculations for Water and Sewer – Possibly Changing Fees with Ordinance." The agenda prints no current fee, no proposed fee and no calculation.

A tapping fee is the one-time charge a property owner pays to buy into the capacity of a water or sewer system when a new connection is made; it is separate from the monthly bill and from the cost of the pipe to the building. The rules for setting one are in Act 57 of 2003, which rewrote the tapping-fee section of the state's Municipality Authorities Act. The act says a tapping fee "shall not exceed an amount based upon some or all of the following parts which shall be separately set forth in the resolution adopted by the authority to establish these fees," starting with a capacity part tied to "the cost of capacity-related facilities, including, but not limited to, source of supply, treatment, pumping, transmission, trunk, interceptor and outfall mains, storage, sludge treatment or disposal, interconnection or other general system facilities." Topton's agenda puts any change in an ordinance, council's own vehicle, rather than an authority resolution. The number council would set is the one a new home or business in Topton pays before it can turn on the tap.

The Finance Committee brings the "2027 Budget" with nothing attached. A notice on the borough website says the "proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Budget is available for public review during regular business hours, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and Wednesday 8:00 am to 12 noon, at the Topton Borough Hall," and that "Adoption of the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget will be considered at the meeting of Borough Council, scheduled for Monday, December 7, 2026 at 7:00 p.m." The notice sits at a web address dated October 2024, apparently a reused page. No budget document is posted, and nothing on the record says whether the borough's 7.4-mill rate, listed as 0.0074000 in the county table, would change. The borough's minutes page links an Oct. 19 agenda labeled "for 2027 Budget" but no minutes of it; the newest council minutes posted are from April 20, 2026.

Also on the agenda: a "Request from Brandywine Heights Area School District – Waiver of Late Fees," which does not say what the fees are for; under the solicitor, a "Draft Ordinance to Replace Ordinance 5-1990, Controlling Dog Barking, and Other Ordinances for Animal Nuisances – Discussion" and the "Status of Well Project - Easement Agreement and Longswamp Township Requirements"; under the manager, a "Request for Proposals for Engineering Services - Discussion"; and under the engineer, "East Barkley Street Water Main Replacement Authorization for Services – Discussion and Approval" and "Drinking Water Well – Discuss Proposal for Services for Next Step." Longswamp Township's Nov. 10 agenda carried a "Topton well construction project" line, as our Tuesday roundup noted; neither agenda explains the township's requirements.

The Streets Committee returns with the "Intermunicipal Cooperation Agreement for Purchase and Sharing of Drum Roller – Approval and Execution of Agreement" and "Resolution 21-2026 to Authorize Intermunicipal Agreement - Approval." The resolution was on Topton's Nov. 2 agenda too, per our Tuesday roundup; with no minutes posted since April, the record does not say what happened to it then. Rockland Township's Nov. 9 agenda named the partners as Longswamp, Hereford and Topton for a 2018 Bomag roller, and Hereford approved a $15,000 share of a roller estimated at $55,000 split four ways, as our Monday roundup and Hereford preview reported. Topton's agenda prints no price.

Spring Township: a tapping fee under Act 57

Spring's Infrastructure Committee meets Tuesday, Nov. 17; its committee page sets the meetings at 8:30 a.m. in the public meeting room at 2850 Windmill Road, Sinking Spring, and the agenda adds a Microsoft Teams link. Under the Entech Engineering report are "Township Tapping Fee in Accordance with ACT 57 of 2003," an "Eastern Environmental Payment Application-Screw Press Project" and "Authorization to Bid Screen for Plant #3." Under streets and stormwater are a "Schnabel Engineering Invoice #2- Standford Avenue Detention Basin" and "H&K Group, Inc.-Approval of Change Orders & Payment Application- 2026 Roadwork." The agenda prints no amounts and does not say whether the committee will recommend a figure to the supervisors, who held a budget review Nov. 9 without posting a 2027 budget, per our Monday roundup. The committee's next meeting is Dec. 1.

Rockland: a budget vote Monday, a data-center draft Wednesday

Rockland's supervisors meet Monday at 4 p.m. on a one-page agenda, a scan posted Nov. 12, headed "2027 Budget – Review/discuss revenue and expenses for 2027." Under the general fund it lists a review of "information from Brian Gottschall, Berks County Department of Emergency Services" on "payment options for fire company radio upgrade expenses for 2027" and a "recent quote for radio upgrades received from Mike Richards, Topton Ambulance," then the state aid and capital funds, then "Authorization to Advertise Proposed 2027 Budget for Consideration for Adoption on 12/14/2026." The agenda prints no location; the township's public notice put the meeting at the municipal building, 41 Deysher Road, Fleetwood, as our Monday roundup reported, and the Nov. 9 agenda described the budget as one "with no proposed tax increases." No budget document is posted.

On Wednesday, Nov. 18, the Planning Commission's agenda, a one-page scan dated Nov. 13 and linked from the township homepage, lists one piece of business, under "REVIEW/UPDATE OF ROCKLAND TOWNSHIP ZONING ORDINANCE OF 2024": "DRAFT DATA CENTER ORDINANCE - REVIEW/DISCUSSION WITH BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (JOINT WORKSHOP MEETING)" and "Possible authorization to forward final draft of data center ordinance to the Berks County Planning Commission for review/comments." The agenda prints no time. The supervisors' Nov. 9 agenda lists, under upcoming meetings, "*Wednesday, November 18, 2026 – Planning Commission Meeting @ 7:00PM (Joint Workshop Meeting)" (p. 2), and the township's June 17 public notice of the joint workshops, also on the homepage, says "The meetings will begin at 7:00PM at the Rockland Township Municipal Building, 41 Deysher Road, Fleetwood, PA 19522." Both documents mark the Nov. 18 date with an asterisk that neither explains. No draft text is posted. Our data-center tracker follows the draft from the Sept. 30 joint workshop, whose minutes record that the township solicitor's office had prepared it, through the Oct. 28 review.

Jefferson: a data-center draft and a budget, decided this morning

Jefferson Township's supervisors met at 9 a.m. today, Saturday, Nov. 14, at 5 Solly Lane, Bernville, per the agenda and the township's meeting dates page. The township posts agendas but no minutes, so what the board did is not yet on the record. Under zoning and planning: "Draft AI Center Ordinance – ratify draft to BCPC for review," BCPC being the Berks County Planning Commission, after a run of joint workshops with the township planners that the tracker follows; a "Tulpehocken Area School District – escrow release for renovation/addition project"; the "Tulpehocken JR/HS Ag building Land Development Final Plan," with a waiver request and a planning module to sign; a "Zoning Hearing Application – 128 Tulpehocken St"; and a "Snow removal amendment." Item 8 is "Presentation of the Budget 2027 - permission to advertise for public inspection." Under other business: "Adopt Resolution 12-2026 for LSA grant for Bernville Fire CO," "Adopt Resolution 13-2026 for LSA grant for Park Project," "Bernville Fire Co monthly report – possible radio update," 2027 meeting dates, the Animal Rescue League and the 2026 audit engagement with Long, Barrell & Co. No budget figures, grant amounts or draft ordinance text are posted.

Penn Township: Monday canceled, budget at 7 a.m. Saturday

Penn Township's supervisors canceled their Monday, Nov. 16 work session in a Nov. 11 post on the township site: "There are no items of business to bring before the Board. The next scheduled meeting is Monday, November 21, 2026." A second post the same day says the board "will hold a special meeting on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 7 AM in the Penn Township Municipal Building, 840 North Garfield Road, Bernville PA to discuss the 2027 budget and consider any other business that may come before the Board." The two notices disagree on the day of the week; Nov. 21, 2026 is a Saturday. No budget document is posted, and the 7 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 meeting is the only budget meeting on the township's posted record. The township's document library also lists a "November 2026 twp agenda" entry created Nov. 12 with no readable file attached, so whichever November meeting it covers, its agenda cannot be read either.

The township also posted its Aug. 31 and Sept. 28 minutes on Nov. 12, per its website's media feed. The Aug. 31 minutes record a discussion of buying "a Massey Ferguson 5M115 Dayna 4 (tractor) and Tiger Mid Mount Wildkat Roadside Mower from Stephenson Equipment, Inc., quoted a Costars price of $205,400.00," with the township planning "to finance the tractor and mower" and apply for two Local Share Account grants. Chairman Kyle Loder "advised that he would recommend moving forward with the purchase only if a grant is awarded." The board then adopted Resolution 2026-12, for a "Category 4 Facilities LSA Grant," and Resolution 2026-13, for a "Statewide LSA Grant," both applications to the Commonwealth Financing Authority for the tractor and mower, each 3-0. The same night it enacted "a Permit Renewal Fee of $50 to renewal a zoning/building or driveway permit," which the minutes say the township had not charged before. The Sept. 28 minutes record Resolution 2026-14, "Adopting and Updating the Township Omnibus Fee Resolution"; approval of "the 2027 Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) of $14,089 for the Penn Township Non-Uniformed Employee's Pension Plan," the yearly payment state law requires into a pension plan; and the release of "payments totaling $16,388.56" of state foreign fire insurance premium tax, $8,194.28 each to the Mt. Pleasant Volunteer Firemen's Relief Association and the Bernville Volunteer Firefighter's Relief Association. All passed 3-0.

Marion: the advertised rate matches the current one

A legal notice in Saturday's Reading Eagle says "the proposed 2027 Budget for Marion Township has been prepared and is available for public inspection at the Marion Township Municipal Office by calling the secretary at 610-589-2860. The real estate tax millage is 4.75. The street light tax millage is 0.65," per the free excerpt indexed on publicnoticepa.com as notice 2495905; the full text, including any adoption date, sits behind the site's challenge page. The township's Nov. 12 workshop agenda lists as item 20: "2027 Tax Rate: Current real estate tax millage is 4.75. The street light tax millage is 0.65. The sewer levy (on-lot septic system inspection fee) is $50.00." Read together, the two documents put the proposed 2027 rate at the current 4.75 mills, with no change to the street light tax; neither says so in as many words. The county table lists Marion at 0.0047500 for 2026. The agenda's item 19 says the budget "must be advertised at least 20 days before budget is adopted" and "must be adopted by December 31st." The 4.75-mill line, printed with no proposed change on the Oct. 22 workshop agenda as our October preview reported, has not moved since; on that agenda it was item 21, and the "2027 Budget-" item above it was blank. The 20-day and Dec. 31 language appears on the Oct. 29 agenda (p. 3), not the Oct. 22 one. Anyone planning to inspect the budget should note the agenda's line that the office is "closed November 23rd to November 27th. Reopening Monday November 30th."

Oley and Kenhorst

Oley Township's supervisors met at 8 a.m. today on a one-item special agenda, "5. Draft 2027 budget review," linked under What's New on the township homepage, which gives the township building as 1 Rose Virginia Road; the agenda prints no time or place, the time comes from a Nov. 12 legal notice, and no budget document is posted.

Kenhorst Borough ran a second budget notice in Saturday's Eagle (notice 2495903 on publicnoticepa.com, also behind the challenge page) saying its FY2027 budget is available at 339 South Kenhorst Boulevard; the borough's first notice, in the Nov. 13 Eagle (notice 2495537), set adoption for Thursday, Dec. 3. No Kenhorst budget document is posted.

What happens next

• Monday, Nov. 16: Rockland budget meeting, 4 p.m., 41 Deysher Road, Fleetwood; Robesonia workshop, 7 p.m., Borough Hall, 75 S. Brooke St.; Topton council, 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 17: Spring Infrastructure Committee, 8:30 a.m., 2850 Windmill Road.
• Wednesday, Nov. 18: Rockland Planning Commission and joint workshop, 7 p.m. per the Nov. 9 agenda.
• Saturday, Nov. 21: Penn Township budget meeting, 7 a.m., 840 North Garfield Road, Bernville.
• Adoption votes: Kenhorst Dec. 3; Robesonia and Topton Dec. 7; Rockland Dec. 14. Marion's, Jefferson's, Penn's and Oley's dates are not yet on the record.

All of these meetings take public comment. Our guide explains how to find any Berks municipality's meeting schedule.

Sources

• Robesonia Borough Council workshop agenda, Nov. 16, 2026; agendas page; Oct. 19 workshop minutes; Oct. 5 minutes; minutes page; Nov. 2 agenda
• Borough Code, 8 Pa.C.S. § 1302; Berks County 2026 Tax Rates
• Topton Borough Council agenda, Nov. 16, 2026; 2027 budget notice; minutes and agendas page; homepage
• Act 57 of 2003
• Spring Township Infrastructure Committee agenda, Nov. 17, 2026; committee page
• Rockland Township Planning Commission / joint workshop agenda, Nov. 18, 2026; budget meeting agenda, Nov. 16, 2026; Board of Supervisors agenda, Nov. 9, 2026; joint workshop public notice, June 17, 2026; homepage
• Jefferson Township Board of Supervisors agenda, Nov. 14, 2026; meeting dates page
• Penn Township: work session canceled; Nov. 21 special meeting; Aug. 31 minutes; Sept. 28 minutes
• Marion Township workshop agenda, Nov. 12, 2026; Oct. 22 workshop agenda; Oct. 29 agenda; Robesonia, Marion and Kenhorst legal notices via publicnoticepa.com (notices 2492438, 2495905, 2495903 and 2495537)
• Oley Township special meeting agenda, Nov. 14, 2026; homepage