Reading Eyes $500K for Day Shelter as Budget Hearing Opens

Reading City Council takes public comment on the city's $129.3 million 2027 budget at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 815 Washington St., then turns at 5:30 p.m. to how the city would spend $2.5 million in federal Community Development Block Grant money next year. The largest new commitment in that plan is $500,000, split over two lines, toward buying and fixing up a day shelter at 525 Franklin St., listed under New Journey's name, according to the tables attached to the committee agenda.

The hearing agenda gives the administration five minutes for an overview, then three minutes per speaker. Speakers must give the City Clerk their name, address and topic before 5 p.m.; written comment marked "public comment" is due by 4 p.m. Our budget tracker has the draft's numbers, including the $12.4 million the city plans to take from its fund balance, the money left over from prior years.

Council was scheduled to vote Monday on the $413.87 trash fee and the AFSCME supervisors' agreement (our Oct. 26 preview); as of Wednesday morning the city had posted no minutes or summary, so the outcomes are not in the public record.

$2.5 million in CDBG money

CDBG is a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that cities over 50,000 people receive automatically each year for projects that mainly benefit low- and moderate-income residents, as the city's CDBG page explains. The yearly Action Plan tells HUD how the money will be spent; the page says it goes to HUD by Nov. 15, and council is scheduled to adopt it Nov. 9, per the schedule in our Oct. 26 preview.

The agenda tables list each project's 2027 request beside the amount the plan proposes (the "2027 AP" column) and what the 2025 and 2026 plans gave. From those tables:

• New Journey day shelter, 525 Franklin St.: $250,000 toward a $600,000 purchase and $250,000 toward a $2,700,000 rehabilitation; the 2025 and 2026 columns show dashes. The table does not spell out the organization's name. New Journey Community Outreach's warming center served 209 guests last winter at a total cost of $31,927, according to slides the Berks County commissioners received Sept. 29 (our county preview), where homeless-services groups asked the city and county for $350,000 each for a severe-weather shelter program.
• East Reading Pool: $300,000 of a $1,052,600 project to "install a spray pad and create a community garden"; the request was the full amount.
• Community policing: $200,000 for police officers' payroll, the same as 2026; the request was $250,000.
• Code enforcement: $200,000 for property maintenance inspectors' payroll and $100,000 for building and trade officials' payroll, both unchanged from 2026.
• Healthy Homes: $206,000 of a $485,500 request for "new roof and lead hazard reduction."
• NHS homebuyer assistance: $200,000 of a $750,000 request.
• 5th & Penn buildings: $165,000, the yearly payment on a HUD Section 108 loan; administration takes $500,000.

The table lists 525 Franklin St. only as "Day Services." Threshold Rehabilitation Services lists that address as the home of its Mosaic House Clubhouse, a program for people living with mental illness, on its website; the packet does not say what would happen to that program if the building is sold.

Three programs funded in 2025 and 2026 get nothing in 2027: demolition of "deteriorated and hazardous buildings" ($250,000 in 2025, $463,000 in 2026) and the commercial and residential façade programs ($100,000 each in 2025, $50,000 each in 2026). The tables show no 2027 request for any of the three, and the plan's $550,500 slum-and-blight category goes unused. A $75,000 request for rental rehabilitation at 1103 Spruce St. also gets nothing; the table says an "Eligible/Fundable determination cannot be completed."

Public service grants, which pay staff at nonprofits and city offices, are held to a $375,000 cap in the table. Requests totaled $578,504; the plan funds $330,000, including the $200,000 for community policing, $35,000 for Berks Coalition to End Homelessness street outreach (requested $65,000) and smaller grants to Family Promise and the Human Relations Commission. Mary's Shelter asked for $50,000 and gets none.

The plan's lines add to $2,501,000, which the summary table shows against a $2,500,000 total and labels "Balanced"; the $1,000 difference is not explained.

Two smaller grants: ESG and HOME

ESG, the Emergency Solutions Grants program, is HUD money for emergency shelter, street outreach and moving people back into permanent housing quickly, per HUD Exchange. Reading projects a $215,000 entitlement, and the table says federal law requires the city to consult the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness on the split. The two columns differ: the coalition recommended $120,750 for Opportunity House and $58,500 for Salvation Army/BCEH, while the city's proposal gives them $100,000 and $29,000 and adds $29,500 for Catholic Charities and $20,750 for Mary's Shelter. Requests totaled $497,750. The packet does not say why the city's proposal departs from the coalition's.

HOME, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, pays for affordable housing for low-income households, per HUD Exchange. The city estimates $910,000 plus $1,000 in program income and proposes $450,000 for homeownership assistance, $251,000 for new construction, $115,000 for a nonprofit developer set-aside, $90,000 for administration and $5,000 for nonprofit operating costs; acquisition and rehab, funded at $100,000 in 2025 and 2026, gets nothing. Requests totaled $1,630,000.

What council has already heard

The city's summary of the Oct. 19 budget session, posted Oct. 27, is the written record of the finance, human resources, self-insurance and law reviews.

During the human resources review, Ms. Twigg told council, the summary says, that use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, a class of prescription medicines also used to treat diabetes, "started with 72 users at $1,200 per person per month and have increased to 340 users at a cost of over $1.5 million." Beginning in February 2027, weight-loss-only users must be pre-authorized and join a weight management program with a personal coach, diet and exercise plans and a Bluetooth scale, at $145 per person per month; if a user does not join, "the City will no longer pay the cost of the GLP-1 medication." The providers expect 85 of the 340 to join, and a request for proposals is out. The city also pays about $1.5 million for retirees' prescriptions under contract obligations, and moving retirees over 65 to a Medicare plan since June has saved $50,000 to $200,000 a month.

Finance Director Joe Famiglietti said the 2027 budget shows fringe benefits rising 14 percent rather than the 19 percent anticipated, per the summary, which also records the workers' compensation claims line rising from $750,000 to $1,000,000 and outside counsel from $204,000 to $212,000.

Councilmember Jaime Baez Jr. asked for the current unassigned fund balance and whether the city will meet its minimum reserve after the planned 2026 and 2027 draws. Famiglietti "anticipates meeting the minimum reserve requirement" but did not have the balance and would provide it, the summary says; asked when the requested models would arrive, he said "next week." Baez asked for a model of 3 percent tax increases every year, saying the city "is depleting its reserves," and Councilmember Raymond Baker asked that the dollar value of one mill be added. Council President Donna Reed said the reserve is ordained at 20 percent of general fund operating expenses and not less than $22 million. Managing Director Jack Gombach said "70% of the City's budget is personnel related" and that Famiglietti "has already made $1.4 million in reductions."

On the trash fee, the summary says Solid Waste Division Manager Steven Harrity explained that the recycling litigation settlement had limited recycling fee increases for five years, leaving a fund deficit, so the recycling fee rises from $90 to $120 per unit while trash collection falls from $273 to $260, about $1.50 a month more; 2027 is the first contract extension, and a new contract must be bid after it. Our trash fee preview has the full fee table.

How to attend, and what comes next

Both sessions are in Council Chambers, City Hall, 815 Washington St., and stream on Zoom, Facebook and BCTV MAC Channel 99; the agenda PDFs carry the Zoom links and passcodes.

Budget reviews continue with public works on Monday, Nov. 2, and police on Wednesday, Nov. 4, both at 5 p.m., per the city's meetings page. The hearing agenda says council "will enact the budget ordinances and all related documents on or before December 14th."