West Reading Budget Lines Imply a Half-Mill Tax Increase

West Reading Borough has posted a proposed 2027 budget whose real estate tax lines, by our arithmetic, fit a general-purpose tax rate of 10.25 mills, a half-mill above this year's 9.75, or about $50 more a year on a home assessed at $100,000. The 15-page document, posted Tuesday, states no tax rate, the borough has not said whether one is changing, and no 2027 tax ordinance is posted, so the arithmetic below rests on one assumption the budget does not confirm. The budget also counts $1,952,880 of its $9,754,436 in general fund revenue as money moved over from the water, sewer and trash funds. Council votes on it at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15.

The borough's notice says the budget "is available for public review at Borough Hall, 500 Chestnut Street, West Reading, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays," and that "Public comment and final adoption are scheduled during the regular Borough Council meeting on Tuesday, December 15, 2026, at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall." A legal notice in Thursday's Reading Eagle (notice 2494852 in the Public Notice Pennsylvania database, whose full text sits behind a challenge page) repeats the inspection notice, with the budget available at 500 Chestnut St. "or via the Borough we[bsite]," where the free excerpt cuts off, before any date.

The state Borough Code requires a proposed budget to sit with the borough secretary for public inspection for ten days (section 1307), a published notice that it is available (section 1308), and adoption no later than Dec. 31 (section 1310). After adopting the budget, council must pass a resolution setting the tax rate, or an ordinance if the rate goes up (section 1310.1).

What the tax lines imply

This year's borough rate is not the 9.75 mills on the county's 2026 tax table. That figure is the general-purpose rate only; the table's footnote says its rates "do not include any additional fees, such as Trash, Recycling, Fire, EMS, etc. or other millage-based taxes." The borough's 2026 tax ordinance, posted as a draft Nov. 11, 2025, fixes the rates "AT 9.75 MILLS FOR GENERAL PURPOSES, 1.75 MILLS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, AND 3.00 MILLS FOR FIRE PROTECTION PURPOSES," and the Dec. 16, 2025 minutes record it adopted as Ordinance 1199 by a 7-0 vote (p. 3). That is 14.50 mills in all. The borough reports the general rate apart from the other two: the same minutes say "The Borough millage rate is unchanged; the Fire rate will increase from 2.85 to 3 mils, and the Road rate will increase from 1 mil to 1.75 mils" (p. 9). A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so a property assessed at $100,000 pays $1,450 a year to the borough this year, before the county's 9.013 mills and the Wyomissing Area School District's 36.603 mills. Our guide to property tax rates by municipality lists the county table's 9.75 figure, and how your bill is split explains the three parts.

The 2027 budget carries the three taxes as separate lines: $1,704,222 general, $290,965 road and $498,797 fire (p. 1). Divide the road line by 1.75 mills and the fire line by 3.00 mills and each gives the same assessed base, about $166.27 million; the two answers are within $50 of each other. Divide the general line by that base and the result is 10.25 mills, to two decimals, against 9.75 this year. The 2026 adopted budget passes the same test: its three lines, $1,657,982, $297,587 and $510,148 (p. 1), all sit on one base of about $170.05 million at 9.75, 1.75 and 3.00 mills.

So, by our arithmetic, the budget's tax lines fit a general rate of 10.25 mills on the same assessed base the road and fire lines imply. With the road and fire rates unchanged, that would be 15.00 mills in all, up from 14.50, and about $50 a year more on a $100,000 assessment. The assumption is that the general line was built on the same base as the other two; if the borough used a different base for that line alone, the half-mill disappears. The budget does not state a rate, nothing the borough has posted explains the line, and the implied base is about $3.8 million smaller than 2026's, which the documents also do not explain.

Last year the record was clearer at this stage. The Nov. 8, 2025 budget minutes record the manager's changes that "increased the Fire Tax from 2.85 to 3 mils; and increased the Road Tax from 1 mil to 1.75 mils," the treasurer's estimate that the increase "would add $90 to a home assessed at $100,000," and 4-0 votes to advertise the budget, the tax amendment and the water and sewer rate increases (pp. 1-2). Draft ordinances for the tax, water and sewer rates were posted Nov. 11, 2025, three days later. This year, as of Friday, the borough's media library holds no 2027 tax, water or sewer rate ordinance, draft or adopted. Section 1310.1 requires that an increase be enacted by ordinance, so if the general rate is going up, council must pass one.

Where the general fund's money comes from

The budget is an Excel printout with a single column of 2027 figures and no cover memo. The general fund, the account that pays for police, public works and borough offices, expects $9,754,436 in and $9,362,429 out, leaving $392,007 unspent by our arithmetic (budget, pp. 2 and 8). The largest revenue lines (pp. 1-2) are:

• Real estate taxes, current year: $1,704,222 general, $290,965 road and $498,797 fire, a combined $2,493,984
• Earned income tax, the tax on residents' wages: $1,003,852
• Local services tax, paid by people who work in the borough: $391,235
• Business privilege tax: $289,000 current and $102,200 from prior years
• "Reading Hospital": $500,000, a line the document does not explain; the Dec. 16, 2025 minutes say "Discussions are ongoing with Reading Hospital regarding their Payment in Lieu of Taxes" (p. 9)
• State pension aid: $367,139
• Transfers in: $889,920 from the water fund, $863,140 from the sewer fund and $199,820 from the refuse fund

Those three transfers add up to $1,952,880, or 20 percent of everything the general fund takes in. A transfer from the utility funds means money collected on residents' water, sewer and trash bills pays for general borough services such as police, instead of staying in the utility that collected it. The water fund's own page shows the $889,920 going out as "Transfer To General Fund" (p. 9), the sewer fund shows $863,140 (p. 10) and the sanitation fund shows $199,820 (p. 11). Without them, the general fund would plan to spend $1,560,873 more than it collects.

Compared with 2026

The 2027 document has no comparison column, but the borough's 2026 adopted budget is posted:

• General fund revenue rises from $9,189,680 to $9,754,436, up about 6 percent, while spending rises from $9,340,086 to $9,362,429, up 0.2 percent (2026 pp. 2 and 7; 2027 pp. 2 and 8). The 2026 plan was $150,406 short; the 2027 plan is $392,007 ahead.
• The three current-year real estate tax lines rise from $2,465,717 to $2,493,984, up 1.1 percent: the general line rises $46,240 while the road line falls $6,622 and the fire line falls $11,351 (2026 p. 1; 2027 p. 1), the pattern behind the arithmetic above.
• Earned income tax falls from $1,062,650 to $1,003,852, down 5.5 percent; "Reading Hospital" falls from $743,675 to $500,000; the utility transfers rise from $1,896,000 to $1,952,880.

Police: 40 cents of every general fund dollar

The police department is budgeted at $3,781,082 (pp. 4-5), which is 40 percent of the general fund's $9,362,429 in spending, by our arithmetic. That is up $202,903, or 5.7 percent, from 2026's $3,578,179 (2026 p. 4). At the Aug. 25 budget meeting, Borough Manager Randall Miller put the increase at 5.6 percent "due in part to changes in the structure of the department," and the minutes record that "Benecon suggested a 13% increase for health insurance" (p. 1). The posted budget's police health insurance line is $774,000, up $119,655, or 18 percent, from $654,345 (2027 p. 4; 2026 p. 4). A new $32,000 "Future Liabilty" line (the budget's spelling) is one of five such lines across departments totaling $49,459; the minutes say a "Vacation Buyback" line was created "in each fund and each department" and that the 2027 budget "includes the allocation of $32,000 based on a seven-year amortization of these future costs" (p. 1).

Elsewhere in the general fund: administration costs $716,035, up 1.3 percent from $707,093 (2027 p. 3; 2026 p. 3), where the Aug. 25 minutes had projected it "roughly 1.48% less than in 2026" (p. 1). The fire company is budgeted at $287,257 (p. 5), the code department at $395,236 (p. 6) and public works at $1,358,252 (p. 7), including the $110,000 in overtime the public works director asked for in August for longer callouts (minutes, p. 2). The general fund sends $703,565 to the capital fund as "Capital Fund Build-up" and $274,798 of fire tax to the same fund (p. 8).

The other funds

By our arithmetic, every fund but one plans to end the year ahead:

• Water: $3,470,114 in, $3,249,397 out, $220,717 ahead (p. 9). Water bills are expected to bring in $2,900,000, up from $2,563,956 in 2026 (2026 p. 8); the Aug. 25 minutes say the borough expected that figure "without an increase in water rates" (p. 2). The fund pays $1,228,031 to buy water, up 9 percent, and beyond its general fund transfer sends out $360,689 under the label "Strategic Plan/Water Rate Inc.," which lands in the capital fund as "Water Rate Increase Bond Issue" (p. 12).
• Sewer: $2,649,427 in, $2,438,688 out, $210,739 ahead (p. 10). Sewer use fees rise to $1,243,382 from $1,175,925 and maintenance fees to $1,119,044 from $1,020,844 (2026 p. 9). The minutes say "No rate increases have been announced to date" as of August (p. 3). The fund sends $232,444 out as "Strategic Plan/Sewer Rate Inc.," matched in the capital fund by "Sewer MT. Increase - Bond Issu" (p. 12).
• Sanitation: $794,562 in, $770,735 out, $23,827 ahead (p. 11). Resident disposal fees rise to $773,312 from $729,540. Nothing in the document says whether the trash fee residents pay changes.
• Capital: $1,701,246 in, $1,586,923 out, $114,323 ahead (p. 12). Bond principal and interest take $1,013,223 of the spending. A $113,750 line for "Proceeds of Sale from Realestate" is new, and the page still carries $10,000 for "433 Penn Ave Construction," the lot council voted Oct. 27 to sell (our recap).
• Highway aid, the state gas-tax money: $117,300 in, $125,000 out, $7,700 short (p. 13).
• Recreation: the revenue page adds a $299,700 subtotal twice and prints $756,400; the fund takes in $456,700, including $157,000 from the general fund, and spends $456,426 (pp. 14-15).

Across all funds, the water, sewer and refuse accounts send $2,546,013 to the general and capital funds combined, by our arithmetic. For 2026, council raised water rates 3 percent for residential customers and 5 percent for commercial, sewer rates 4 and 8 percent, and the refuse fee to $105 per unit per quarter, each by a 7-0 vote on Dec. 16, 2025 (minutes, p. 4). The Nov. 8, 2025 minutes are not consistent on the residential figures: a summary passage gives 4 percent for sewer and 3 percent for water, and the motions two lines below give 3 percent for sewer and 4 percent for water (p. 2); against what was adopted, the one clean difference is commercial water, advertised at 8 percent and adopted at 5. Nothing posted says whether any of those rates change for 2027.

What is not posted

Both the Oct. 27 and Nov. 7 agendas carried "Consideration of authorizing the advertisement of the 2027 draft budget." No minutes of either meeting are posted: the borough's media library shows nothing newer than Nov. 11, and its agendas page ends at the Nov. 7 budget meeting. So the record does not say which night council voted to advertise, the vote count, or whether any rate change was discussed. No agenda for the Nov. 17 meeting is posted.

How to comment

The budget can be read at Borough Hall, 500 Chestnut St., weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or online. The adoption vote and the public comment on it are set for 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Borough Hall. Before then, council's calendar lists a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, and a 6 p.m. meeting Nov. 24, both at Borough Hall. The Nov. 7 agenda prints the borough's public comment rule: five minutes per person, open to "residents and taxpayers of the Borough of West Reading," with written comments accepted at info@westreadingborough.org by noon on the meeting date. Council's other open item from the fall, the data center zoning amendment, is in our October preview.