Wyomissing Weighs 3- or 4-Mill Tax Hike to Close $2.2M Gap

Wyomissing Borough's interim manager has put five ways to close a $2.2 million budget gap in front of council and recommended two of them, both of which would raise the borough property tax by 3 or 4 mills in 2027. On the median home in the borough, assessed at $133,500, that would add $401 or $534 a year, according to the one-page scenario table in the 27-page budget document the borough posted Oct. 26 (p. 5). A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

Nothing has been decided. Council opened a special budget session Oct. 28 and recessed it; the posted agenda says it reconvenes Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., with "2027 Budget Development Presentations" as its only business item, and the borough's calendar puts it at Borough Hall, 22 Reading Blvd. No minutes or summary of the Oct. 28 session are posted; the borough had uploaded two video files titled "Council Special Budget meeting 10.28.2026" to its document center but had not yet linked them from its meeting-video page when we checked.

A $2.2 million gap that grows every year

The document opens with a four-page memo to council from Interim Borough Manager Eden Ratliff, dated Oct. 28. It says the borough "faces an annual operating deficit of approximately $2.2 million, with that deficit projected to grow by approximately $800,000 annually without corrective action" (p. 1). A structural deficit means recurring revenue does not cover recurring costs, even in a normal year. The memo says each mill brings in about $1 million a year (p. 2).

That $2.2 million is lower than the $2.4 million to $2.7 million range staff used in September and in the Oct. 21 Unmet Needs Report, as reported in our September story. The memo does not explain the change, though that story noted the September slide's own figures came to about $2.19 million, so the new number may be a correction of the earlier range rather than a new estimate.

The preliminary budget pages, dated Oct. 25, show $14,577,100 in general fund revenue (p. 7) against $20,271,942 in expenses, a $5,694,842 gap before any scenario is applied; that spending includes $2,940,113 for the fire fund and $2,079,658 for capital (pp. 12-13). The document does not reconcile the scenario table to these pages.

Five scenarios, two on the table

The memo calls Scenarios 1, 2 and 5 "primarily illustrative" and says "none represent a sustainable approach" (p. 2). It recommends that council "focus its upcoming budget discussions on Scenarios 3 and 4" (p. 4). The table (p. 5):

Scenario	Mills added	Total borough millage	Added tax, median home	New borrowing	2027 result	Reserves, % of spending
1. Pay for what we have	7.75	14.40	$1,035	None	$2,143,067 surplus	25.0%
2. Smaller borough	None	6.65	None	None	$210,300 surplus	17.5%
3. Three mills, more debt	3.00	9.65	$401	$2,537,158	($533,792) deficit	9.8%
4. Four mills, less debt	4.00	10.65	$534	$1,581,463	$245,250 surplus	14.3%
5. Three mills, no capital	3.00	9.65	$401	None	$210,300 surplus	14.5%

The 6.65 mills in Scenario 2 is the rate the table labels "hold millage"; the borough's Oct. 13 presentation shows the same 2026 total, 5.15 general mills plus half a mill each for roads, EMS and fire (slides 15-16).

Scenario 2 would hold taxes flat by cutting spending equal to about 27 full-time-equivalent positions, a count of hours rather than people, if the cuts came entirely from staff (p. 5), which the memo calls "fundamentally changing the size and services of Borough government" (p. 2).

Scenarios 3 and 4 would borrow for capital. Debt service, the yearly principal and interest on that borrowing, would be $410,137 under Scenario 3 and $192,438 under Scenario 4, which also pays $450,000 of capital in cash (p. 5). A bond is a loan from investors repaid with interest over a set number of years; the memo says both scenarios "anticipate a bond issuance in 2027," but the amounts are "preliminary estimates" that a five-year capital plan, written in 2027 and approved by council, would set (p. 3).

Reserves, or fund balance, are what is left in the general fund at year's end. The document gives two targets: the table says "target 17%" (p. 5), while the memo says Scenario 4's reserves "would remain below the Borough's 22% target" (p. 2). Both recommended scenarios fall short of either figure in 2027 (p. 5).

What gets funded, what waits

A three-page capital list (pp. 24-26) funds $4,847,158 of $4,924,658 requested (p. 25), defers $7,500,000 and leaves $1,197,800 unfunded (p. 26). By our arithmetic the three lists add to about $13.6 million, short of September's $14,800,658 in requests. The document does not explain the difference, but the lists show where it sits: they carry $1,594,263 of parks requests against the $3,065,463 parks asked for in September, so about $1.47 million of those requests appears on none of the three lists.

The $5 million fire station renovation is deferred, with the note "Full renovation ruled out 10/22. Limited grant-funded scope under review: 250,000 LSA awarded, 380,000 pending" (p. 26). LSA grants are Local Share Account grants, state money from casino gaming revenue.

The $2.5 million tower ladder is deferred to a "2028 decision." A $500,000 LSA grant has been awarded, 2027 carries a $250,000 deposit "offset by grant," and the "balance of 2,000,000 would be borrowed" (p. 26).

The $700,000 rehabilitation of the 4th and Oley pump station is listed as "In for now" and "Contingent on Scenario" (p. 25). The sewer options page says the budget "currently uses" a mid-year split that puts only $200,000 of the cost in 2027; paying the full $700,000 next year would need a 16.9 percent sewer-rate increase to break even, the split 1.3 percent (p. 27). The sewer fund's pages carry the $200,000 version, not the $700,000 the capital list shows as "in 2027 budget."

The $1,185,000 street paving program is funded in full (p. 24), split by our arithmetic between the road tax fund ($545,000, p. 16) and the capital fund ($640,000, p. 17). The budget also carries $150,000 for RACP design of the Borough Hall and police facility (pp. 17, 25); RACP is a state grant program for building projects.

Water and sewer

The water fund projects $2,847,500 in revenue and $2,800,000 in spending, a $47,500 surplus (pp. 19-20). The sewer fund projects $3,471,000 in revenue and $3,511,278 in spending, a $40,278 deficit (pp. 20-21; memo, p. 3). Both funds' overhead payments to the general fund drop from $750,000 each in 2026 to $354,000 and $355,000 (p. 7), up from the $315,000 each in the Oct. 12 draft (p. 2).

Elsewhere, the budget carries $200,000 for the interim manager under a "Stonehill Ratliff contract" plus $150,000 in contracted services from the same firm, $185,000 for the interim finance director under a "Transcend Finance contract" plus $65,000 in services (p. 7), and a new $160,000 "communications / marketing / PR firm contract" (p. 9). Police spending is budgeted at $5,539,525, up from $3,559,000, though the 2027 column moves benefits and pensions into the police lines, so the years are not directly comparable (pp. 8-10).

What changed since September

September's $14,800,658 in requests, detailed in our earlier story, was led by the fire department's $7.9 million. The Oct. 25 budget funds $612,500 of fire equipment and defers the station and the ladder truck (pp. 24, 26). Police asked for $225,195 in September; the Oct. 25 list carries $208,195 of that as requested and funds $223,195, after radios rose from $135,000 to $150,000 (p. 24). Water ($235,000) and sewer ($1,075,000) are funded in full; parks, which asked for $3,065,463 in September, show $1,594,263 in requests on the Oct. 25 list and get $501,463, with a $325,000 Stone House pond repair among the items left out (pp. 25-26). The RACP design figure rose from the $125,000 Ratliff cited in the Sept. 30 minutes (p. 2) to $150,000.

How to weigh in

Council reconvenes Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall, 22 Reading Blvd. The agenda has public-comment periods before and after the presentations. The Oct. 13 presentation's budget calendar lists adoption and advertising of a preliminary budget Nov. 10, a budget town hall Dec. 2 and a special meeting to adopt the budget Dec. 15 (slide 3); the last two also appear on the borough's 2027 Budget page. Our guide explains how to find any Berks municipality's meeting schedule.