Reading Council Votes on $413.87 Trash Fee, Union Contract

Reading City Council is set to take its final vote Monday, Oct. 26, on the 2027 trash and recycling fee, raising what each household pays from $395.91 to $413.87 a year, and to approve a four-year labor agreement with the city's AFSCME supervisors that gives them 3.5 percent raises in each of the next three years. The regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers and online, according to the agenda. A 5 p.m. committee session comes first, and a public hearing on the 2027 budget follows Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The trash fee: $17.96 more a year

Bill 85-2026 is listed for final passage. The agenda says the "solid waste collection contact with Republic will increase in 2027, causing the current user fee of $395.91 per unit per year to increase to $413.87 for 2027. Fee includes trash and recycling removal and processing, clean city services - $34.49 per month" (p. 5). The increase is $17.96 a year, about 4.5 percent; that is our arithmetic. The ordinance takes effect Jan. 1, 2027 (p. 25).

The memo from Solid Waste Division Manager Steven Harrity says the Republic Services contract "increases annually," and that 2027 is "the first of two potential 1 (one) year extensions of original 5 (five) year contract 2022-2026" (p. 23). The trash portion of the fee falls while recycling rises a third (p. 26); our preview of the bill's introduction has the breakdown, and the memo does not explain the shift.

A four-year deal with AFSCME supervisors

Resolution 7B authorizes the mayor to sign an agreement with "the American Federation Of State, County And Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO District Council 88, Local #3799 effective January 1, 2027 and expiring December 31, 2030" (p. 6). The document attached to the agenda (pp. 47-115; the resolution itself is p. 46) covers "all full-time first level supervisory employees" (Article 1, p. 52). Its wage-scale exhibit lists 20 titles, including the foremen for highways, parks, the garage and shade trees, the wastewater plant shift supervisor and the property maintenance inspector supervisor, but the dollar columns for 2027 through 2030 are blank (Exhibit C, p. 115).

Because these are supervisors, the document is a "Recommendation" reached under the "meet and discuss" section of Act 195, Pennsylvania's public employee labor law, and its cover says it "is not, nor should be deemed, a contract" (p. 51). The agenda still calls it a collective bargaining agreement.

Article 10 sets the raises: "Effective January 1, 2027 each employee shall receive a 3.5% across the board increase over their respective hourly rate," with the same 3.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2028 and Jan. 1, 2029, and "a 4% across the board increase" on Jan. 1, 2030 (p. 67).

On health insurance, the city pays a fixed "allotment towards health and prescription coverage" and "the employee will be responsible for the remaining balance." The single-coverage allotment is $1,034.25 in 2027 and $1,197.27 in 2030; family coverage goes from $3,068.10 to $3,551.72 (Article 11, p. 69). The document does not say whether those are monthly figures; by our arithmetic they rise 5 percent a year. On pensions, the city "will explore" a defined-contribution or hybrid plan for future hires; current members "will not be affected," and the city "reserves the right not to implement" one (Article 34, p. 105). The duration clause runs Jan. 1, 2027 to Dec. 31, 2030 (Article 29, p. 99).

The packet has no memo estimating what the agreement costs. The city's 2027 draft budget already assumes 3.5 percent raises for AFSCME employees in its position budget, so the first year is built into the budget council is reviewing.

Budget bills on hold, with a tax-rate discrepancy

The four 2027 budget ordinances, "Introduced at the Oct 5th Special Mtg," are listed for final passage but marked "Pending – Budget Review Process" (p. 4): the "2027 Property Tax Ordinance .019261 mils on the dollar, or $19.261 on each $1,000," the "2027 Position Ordinance," the "2027 General Fund Budget" and the "2027 Capital Budget" (pp. 4-5). No budget vote is expected Monday.

The 19.261 figure conflicts with the city's draft budget, which keeps the rate at 19.217 mills, the current rate, as our budget report explains, citing page 1 of the draft. The same 19.261 wording appeared on the Oct. 12 agenda, which also labeled all four bills "2026" ordinances. On a home assessed at $100,000, the gap is $4.40 a year. The city's summary of the Oct. 5 special meeting records the bill as introduced as the "2027 Property Tax Ordinance retaining the rate of 19.217 mils" and quotes the mayor saying "the 2026 milage will be retained – 19.217 mils," so the record points to 19.217; the agenda line has not been corrected. The Oct. 28 hearing agenda says council "will enact the budget ordinances and all related documents on or before December 14th." For how city, county and school rates add up, see our property tax explainer.

On the consent agenda

Consent items pass together when the agenda is approved unless a member pulls one (p. 3).

• Penn Street bus bays: an application for a $3,000,000 PennDOT Multimodal Transportation Fund grant "to support the conversion of existing bus bay configurations in the 400 block of Penn Street into safe accessible walking areas for pedestrians" and to redesign parking. It carries "a required 30% local cash match totaling $900,000.00"; the account for that match "will be determined when and if funding is awarded, by amendment" (pp. 15-18).
• Engineering firms: bulk contracts with 10 firms (Entech, Hazen and Sawyer, Keystone, McCarthy, McCormick Taylor, Spotts, Stevens and McCoy, Traffic Planning and Design, Barry Issett & Associates, Buchart Horn and GPI), each capped at $250,000 a year from January 2027 through December 2029, with two one-year extensions and "no guaranteed pay to the firms" (pp. 19-20).
• Electricity: the city is "bundling its electricity accounts to lower its rate," at an estimated "approximately $4,000,000 annually." The mayor could sign with the lowest responsible bidder the day bids open, and take a 10 percent renewable option "so long as the renewable energy component does not increase the projected total cost more than 5%," citing Resolution 61-2019's goal of 100 percent renewable electricity for city facilities by 2030 (pp. 21-22).
• Plan review: inspection contracts with Comprehensive Inspection Agency of Cressona and McCarthy Engineering Associates of Wyomissing, each not to exceed $45,000 a year, for two years with three one-year options; they were the only two responses when the request opened Aug. 25 (pp. 8-11).
• Historic preservation: a $25,000 Certified Local Government grant application, with a $2,500 match, to hire an expert to update the city's preservation ordinances (pp. 12-14).

Other business

Also up for final passage: Bill 86-2026, a $27,000 transfer within the IT budget for T-Mobile and Verizon lines (pp. 27-28), and Bill 87-2026, requiring lateral-transfer police officers to hold "a full training waiver from the MPOETC," the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission, and to have "been employed as a police officer or law enforcement agent for not less than a year" (pp. 29-32).

Four new ordinances would be introduced: removing a duplicate failure-to-appear inspection fee from the property-sale fee schedule (pp. 33-35); fixing the lettering in Chapter 431 of the property-sales code (pp. 36-39); moving $15,500 from tipping fees to fuel and supplies in the 2026 Solid Waste Fund (pp. 40-41); and moving $38,000 into Fire Department fuel from four other lines, including $20,000 from "Repairs to Damaged Property" (pp. 42-43).

Resolution 7A asks the "Berks County Reading Area Transportation Study organization" to approve a traffic-calming plan for Hampden Boulevard and help find money for it. The resolution describes a five-lane road where drivers "ignore the 35-mph speed limit," "decades of speeding vehicles and serious and violent crashes," and requests to the state "dating back to 1954" (pp. 44-45). The cost estimate is not in the packet.

Council will also recognize the retirement of City Auditor Maria Rodriguez, whose departure led to the interim-auditor search covered in our Oct. 12 recap; the agenda gives no date. Animal Control Board chair Anna Miller is scheduled to report. And council is asked to approve the minutes of the Oct. 12 meeting, whose posted minutes still carried the Sept. 28 record as of Oct. 23.

The 5 p.m. committee meeting

The Committee of the Whole opens with a 45-minute "Pagoda-Skyline request for a pavilion at the Fire Tower property," presented by M. Ray and M. Reinert; no cost appears on the agenda. At 5:45 council reviews a draft resolution rewriting its policy on proclamations, commendations and letters. The draft says proclamations come from the mayor or from council by resolution, commendations are signed by the council president, and a member seeking an honor for someone outside their district must first refer it to that district's councilor. Requests go to the City Clerk seven days ahead, and city postage may not be used for personal congratulations or sympathy notes.

Oct. 28: the budget hearing

The evidentiary public hearing on the 2027 General Fund and Capital Budgets is Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. in Council Chambers and online. The posted summary shows a $129,250,646 general fund that counts $12,446,300 of fund balance as revenue, with police at $49,732,573 and fire at $30,550,624, and a $12,431,500 capital program led by $7,167,000 for public works (hearing agenda p. 3). To speak, sign in with the City Clerk before 5 p.m.; speakers get three minutes, and anyone who does not sign in waits until those who did have finished. Written comment marked "public comment" is due by 4 p.m. that day.

The hearing leads into a review of the Community Development department and the CDBG Action Plan. The rest of the schedule (agenda pp. 6-7), with budget reviews from 5 to 7 p.m.: Public Works on Nov. 2; Police on Nov. 4; a committee meeting Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. regular meeting at which council adopts the CDBG Action Plan; wastewater and sewers Nov. 16; and the capital budget and non-departmental accounts Nov. 18.

How to comment Monday

Residents and taxpayers who want to speak Oct. 26 must register with the City Clerk's Office by 4 p.m. at 610-655-6205 or council@readingpa.gov, send written comment by 4 p.m. to the same address marked "Public Comment," or sign the sheet at the podium between 5 and 7 p.m. Speakers get five minutes on agenda items and three on anything else. The meeting streams on Zoom, Facebook and BCTV; comments posted in Zoom chat or on Facebook are not read into the record (pp. 1-3).