Mohnton Council Votes on a 2027 Tax Hike and $1M Grant

Mohnton Borough Council votes Wednesday night on raising taxes for 2027, and the one-page agenda does not say by how much. The agenda for the special workshop meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, posted Tuesday, lists a motion "to increase taxes for 2027 and authorize advertisement of the Ordinance approving the same," with no rate, no dollar figure and no budget attached. The same six motions ask council to advertise the proposed 2027 budget, to re-evaluate a state grant application it approved in August and then approve "the LSA Grant application," to act on a Crown Castle cell tower proposal, and to move part of the borough's sewer billing from Shillington Borough to Mohnton. Council will also review applicants for its open seat.

Our Oct. 14 preview noted that council listed, but did not vote on, motions to raise trash, property and fire taxes on Sept. 9, and that the Oct. 14 agenda did not bring them back. The borough has not posted minutes of the Oct. 14 meeting, so what council decided that night is undocumented.

A tax increase with no number

The agenda does not say which taxes the ordinance would raise. On Sept. 9, the minutes show, a motion "to approve raising taxes" listed three lines, trash, property tax and fire tax, and none was voted on; the entry ends "Content for next General Meeting."

Mohnton's current municipal property tax rate is 0.0071999, or about 7.2 mills, according to the county's 2026 tax rate table. A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so by our arithmetic the borough's share of the bill on a property assessed at $100,000 is about $720 a year, and each added mill would cost that owner $100 more. The county table's footnote says its rates "do not include any additional fees, such as Trash, Recycling, Fire, EMS, etc. or other millage-based taxes," so the borough's separate fire tax sits on top of the 7.2 mills. Only the borough's slice of a combined 50.8229-mill bill is on Wednesday's agenda; our rate table lists every Berks municipality.

Last year's sequence shows how the number may arrive. On Nov. 12, 2025, council authorized advertising an ordinance for a 1-mill real estate tax increase, along with a fire tax increase the minutes record as ".25Mils", a 10% sewer rate increase and a 15% trash rate increase to $391, per the Nov. 12, 2025 minutes. On Dec. 10, 2025, council adopted the ordinance for "the Real Estate tax increase of 1 Mil. from the prior rate," per the Dec. 10, 2025 minutes, which record the fire tax increase adopted that night as "1.25 Mils," not the .25 advertised in November. The proposed 2026 budget budgets $860,000 in current real estate taxes and carries two notes beside that line: "1 mill tax increase $120000" and "Potential 1 mill incease in 2027."

What "advertise the budget" means

The first motion under the 2027 budget heading is to "authorize advertisement of the 2027 proposed budget." Under Section 1307 of the Pennsylvania Borough Code, the proposed budget "shall be kept on file with the borough secretary and be made available for public inspection by the borough secretary for a period of ten days," and Section 1308 requires the secretary to publish notice of that in a newspaper. Council must adopt the budget by Dec. 31, and Section 1310.1 requires an ordinance whenever the tax rate goes up, "subject to approval of the mayor or enactment over the mayor's veto." Mohnton's mayor's office is empty: council accepted Eric Burgis's resignation on Sept. 9, per the minutes, the Oct. 14 agenda listed the mayor's report as "Vacant," and Wednesday's agenda lists no nomination.

No proposed 2027 budget is posted on the borough's agenda and minutes page or elsewhere on its site as of Wednesday morning.

The $1 million choice: a ladder truck or Main Street culverts

Two motions sit back to back: one "to re-evaluate the LSA Grant application that was approved in the August General Meeting," then one "to approve the LSA Grant application." The agenda names no project and no amount for either.

The August decision is on the record. On Aug. 12, council voted, all in favor, on a "Motion to file the LSA Grant application for the Fire Department," per the minutes. The Oct. 14 agenda called that the "LSA Grant application decision for purchase of the Fire Company new Ladder Truck," asked council to "vote to approve or deny the August decision," and listed a competing motion to "approve the LSA Grant application for the Main Street Stormwater Culverts. 1 million, with a match of $580,849." Its engineer's report put the choice in one line: "LSA Statewide, due November 30, 2026 for stormwater culverts or another project. A decision is needed from council." With no Oct. 14 minutes posted, whether council chose that night is undocumented, and Wednesday's agenda reopens the question.

LSA is the Local Share Account Statewide program, which the state Department of Community and Economic Development describes as distributing gaming revenue through the Commonwealth Financing Authority "to support projects in the public interest." The program guidelines say "Grant requests shall not exceed $1,000,000 for any project," that "Match is not required for this program," that "Applicants may submit multiple applications," and that applications "will be received from September 1 to November 30 annually." So the Nov. 30 deadline leaves council 26 days, and nothing in the rules forces a choice between the truck and the culverts; each application needs its own council resolution and a $100 fee. The program's FAQ says approval is expected "September in the year following application submission."

On the culverts, the figures to watch are the $1,000,000 request and the $580,849 the Oct. 14 agenda called a match. The state does not require one, so the $580,849 reads as the borough's own share of a larger project whose total no agenda states; our Oct. 14 preview walks through that, along with a pending $537,006 Multimodal Transportation Fund request for the same culverts. The borough's 2025 LSA request of $431,033.85 for Church Street was not awarded, per the Oct. 14 agenda. The ladder truck carries no price in any posted agenda or minutes.

Crown Castle and the cell tower

Council will vote on a "Crown Castle Cell Tower Proposal to either purchase easement or maintain the current lease agreement." The agenda does not describe the proposal's terms and gives no dollar figure, term or location. For scale, the proposed 2026 budget lists a general fund revenue line labeled "Cell Tower" at $27,554 for 2026.

Sewer bills move from Shillington to Mohnton

The last motion is "to approve the change of Sewer billing from Shillington Borough to Mohnton Borough." The borough's homepage describes the current split: its online sewer payment link is "ONLY for Mohnton residents that normally pay their sewer bill to Mohnton Borough," and "Sections of the Borough pay their bill to Shillington Borough, please continue to do so." The agenda does not say which sections would change, when, or whether rates would change with the billing.

The open council seat

The first item under the council president is "New applicants review for open Council seat." The borough's Oct. 15 notice asked residents for a one-page statement of interest, to be "reviewed by Council" at Wednesday's workshop, with the selection at the general meeting on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. That matches the Oct. 14 agenda, which set interviews for the November workshop and a selection at the November general meeting as it listed a motion to accept council member Jerry Boughton's resignation. The notice does not say whose seat is open, and the borough's calendar lists only Wednesday's workshop for November so far. Mohnton has a vacancy board, created by ordinance on Dec. 10, 2025, per the minutes; our Oct. 14 preview covers the Borough Code's 30-day clock.

What is not posted

As of Wednesday morning, none of the following is public: the tax rate or the taxes the ordinance would raise, the proposed 2027 budget, the Crown Castle proposal, any document on the sewer billing change, a price for the ladder truck, a project total for the culverts, the Oct. 14 minutes, or the applicants' names. The newest minutes on the agenda and minutes page are from Sept. 9, and the agenda lists no public comment period.

How to attend

The special workshop meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. The agenda does not list a location; the open-seat notice puts the workshop at Borough Hall, 21 N. O'Neil St., Mohnton, and the event listing blocks 7 to 8 p.m. The agenda says the meeting is recorded. The borough office answers at (610) 775-0660, per the homepage.

Two neighbors face the same calls this week: Brecknock Township's supervisors vote Wednesday on their 2027 tax levy and a $225,900 LSA request, and Cumru Township opened its 2027 budget with a $923,263 gap. This guide explains how borough, county and school tax bills fit together.