Wyomissing Council Backs 4-Mill Tax Hike Draft, 4-3

Wyomissing Borough Council voted 4-3 on Nov. 3 to have staff write the 2027 budget with a 4-mill property tax increase, according to the draft minutes of that meeting, which the borough released Friday inside its Nov. 10 council packet (p. 65). A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, so by our arithmetic 4 mills, however the borough divides them among its tax lines, add up to $400 more per $100,000 of assessed value, and $534 on the median borough home, assessed at $133,500, the figure in the interim manager's Nov. 3 scenario table (p. 3). The borough's current rate is 6.65 mills: the county's 2026 tax-rate table lists 5.15 mills for Wyomissing, and the borough's Oct. 13 presentation adds half a mill each for roads, EMS and fire (slides 15-16). Four more mills would make the total 10.65, or $1,065 per $100,000; the motion says "appropriate allocation to the different tax classification," and the minutes do not say how the four mills would split among those lines.

The minutes are marked draft and have not been approved; the Nov. 10 consent agenda approves only the Oct. 13 and Oct. 28 minutes (packet p. 2). Every vote and statement below is as the draft minutes record it.

Nothing is final yet. The motion, by Councilmember Jana R. Barnett and seconded by Councilmember Adam C. Berkeley, asked "administrative staff to prepare the draft budget for the November 10, 2026 Council meeting, with a 4 mil tax increase, with appropriate allocation to the different tax classification, and continue to look for opportunities to cut expenses." Councilmembers Richard A. Weinhoffer, Stephen D. Brunner and Christopher F. Valente opposed it (p. 65). The minutes name only the no votes; with seven members present, the yes votes by elimination were Barnett, Berkeley, Council President Kristen M. Gajewski and Councilmember Jennifer L. Reimer (pp. 60, 65).

Council meets Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall, 22 Reading Blvd., per the borough calendar. The agenda lists two budget votes under action items: "Consider advertisement for the 2027 Preliminary Borough Operating Budgets" and "Consider advertisement of the proposed 2027 Tax Ordinance." A preliminary budget is the draft council puts on public display before a final vote; advertising it starts that display period, and the tax ordinance is the local law that sets the millage. The 114-page packet contains no borough budget document and no tax ordinance (the only budget in it is the library's, pp. 94-95), and as of Saturday morning none was posted elsewhere on the borough site: the 2027 Budget page and the newest budget news flash still link only the Nov. 3 memo and slides. The budget page's calendar then runs to a Dec. 2 town hall and a Dec. 15 special meeting to adopt the budget.

How council split

The draft minutes record each member's position before the vote (p. 65). Gajewski "was favorable of the 4 mil tax increase," saying the borough "could do 3 mils however feels the Borough should be in a position where there is no deficit." Barnett favored 4 mills "with management continuing to review, refine, and adopt a balanced budget with capital improvements." Reimer favored 4 mills; the minutes say "3 mils would be difficult and lead to a another increase in 2028, and subsequent years."

Weinhoffer "was favorable of a maximum 3 mil increase," and of "potentially reducing the Kate & Co. services," the borough's communications contractor; he "was not favorable of a large tax increase for 2027" (p. 65). Brunner, "later in the meeting" by the minutes' placement, "reiterated the prior challenge of tax increase justification if the fund balance was healthy" (p. 62). Valente, in council comment after the vote, said "The Borough will be okay at 3 mils, but 4 mils is healthier" (p. 66).

Interim Borough Manager Eden Ratliff told council that "without an increase, the Borough would slip to a $3 million deficit" (p. 64). Early in the meeting he put the restructured 2026 general fund at "a $2.2 to $2.4 million deficit," with staffing costs growing "between 4.5% to 5.3%, or $800,000 for 2027" (p. 61).

What 4 mills buys, by the minutes

The minutes describe the two scenarios Ratliff called "more viable" (p. 63). Scenario 3 "would impose a 3 mil tax increase, have a $2.5 million bond, have $410,000 in debt service, and pay for some operations out of the existing fund balance," leaving reserves at "12.10%" of spending and a general fund balance of $2,157,397. Scenario 4 "would impose a 4 mil tax increase, require less debt, and paying some capital prior to bond issuance," leaving "16.40% in reserves," a general fund balance of $2,913,079 and a "2027 surplus of $573,572" (p. 63). Debt service is the yearly principal and interest on borrowed money; reserves, or fund balance, are what is left in the general fund at year's end. The Nov. 3 slides carry the same Scenario 4 figures (slide 10), while the memo's scenario page, footed "CORRECTED" and printed Nov. 3, shows $373,572 and 15.2 percent (p. 3), a $200,000 gap our Nov. 10 preview flagged. The minutes record Ratliff saying "there was a mistake in the materials provided in preparation for this meeting, and a revision to the materials was posted prior to this meeting" (p. 60), and then carry the deck's higher figures; no document says what the mistake was, or why the figures shown at the meeting differ from the page labeled corrected.

The draft Oct. 28 minutes, also in the packet, size the increase a different way: "A 3 mil increase is 45% in the resident's Borough tax liability, and a 4 mil increase is 61% in the resident's Borough tax liability" (p. 56). By our arithmetic, 4 mills on 6.65 is a 60 percent increase and 3 mills is 45 percent. Those minutes also record Reimer saying "a 3 mil increase for the average household was $130 or $3 per week" (p. 57); the scenario table puts 3 mills at $401 a year on the median home (memo, p. 3), and the minutes do not reconcile the two.

On Oct. 28, Ratliff presented a preliminary general fund of $14,442,200 in revenue against $20,517,601 in expenses, "leaving a negative net position of $6,075,401," then a revised version at $14,577,100 and $18,192,284, "leaving a negative net position of $3,615,184" (p. 53). He listed five proposed hires with benefits included: an administrative assistant, a permit coordinator and an accounts receivable coordinator at $115,000 each, a zoning and codes officer at $144,000 and a deputy fire chief at $176,000 (p. 54). Council sent staff away that night with a directive "to make $250,000 in operation cuts prior to reconvening" (p. 57); our Oct. 29 story covered the five scenarios.

The cuts that came back

Staff returned Nov. 3 with cuts the minutes total at $251,935: raising pool and playground fees by $60,000 and $30,000, cutting $75,000 from leaf collection, removing "Movies in the Park, Memorial Day parade, Egg Hunt, Concerts in the Park, Touch A Truck, Ice Skating," and delaying the hire of an accounts receivable clerk to April 1, 2027 (p. 61; slide 9). The minutes note "the Recreation Board has administrative oversight over the pool and playground fees, and this will be discussed with them" (p. 61).

Gajewski "was not comfortable with the level of cuts proposed," and said "the amount cut is not enough to justify giving up on the proposed cut items." Mayor Frederick C. Levering agreed, and Brunner "indicated opposition to cutting the leaf collection service" (p. 61). The motion kept the instruction to "continue to look for opportunities to cut expenses," so which cuts survive is for Nov. 10 to show.

Consultants and the fire department

The consultant lines take up the most space in the minutes, which record "the interim management fees of $350,000 and the fact that interim means short-term, not a few years" (p. 62). Barnett countered that a recent Cumru Township manager hire costs "$310,000" in salary and benefits, "not far from the Interim Manager's costs"; Reimer said the $350,000 "is all encompassing," with no added employment costs (p. 62). Brunner raised the "$160,000 cost for the communications firm" (p. 61); Reimer said it equals "a staffer with a $95,000 salary plus employment benefits/costs" and that the firm, Kate & Co., is "not a long-term solution" (pp. 62-63). The Oct. 28 minutes put a full-time manager at "$320,000 to $330,000 per year" with benefits (p. 54).

Council also discussed "the fire department costing the Borough $3.5 million per year to operate," which the minutes say made the dedicated fire tax "useful," with "brief comment that the state has a cap on the amount of fire tax that can be generated" (p. 65).

What residents said

The meeting held no opening comment period because it continued the Oct. 28 session (p. 60), so residents spoke after the vote. Adrian Jadic, 48 Cardinal Road, "noted that the public should be heard before the vote is taken," and later spoke on spending growth, the lack of RFPs and the value of a mill in Wyomissing versus other municipalities (pp. 65-66). Tim McDonough, 21 Hummingbird Road, raised consultant contract lengths and borough lots that could be sold; Blake Molinaro, 1546 Dauphin Avenue, the cut list and dedicated tax funds; David Reeser, 1110 Fairview Avenue, whom the same minutes list as borough treasurer (p. 60), the communications team and the cuts; Jim McAvoy, 1511 Dauphin Avenue, "common sense budgeting and fiscal responsibility"; Brock Molinaro, 1713 Meadowlark Road, the consultant firms and the borough's insurance; Dan Macrina, 306 Evans Avenue, "support of a 4 mil increase"; and Kevin Wolf, 1115 Thrush Road, the cost of living in the borough "with no change or benefit" (p. 66).

The rest of Nov. 10

The budget votes come after three hearings and adoption votes: Ordinance 1464-2026, the C2 overlay district rewrite with "new rules for future development" and "new district boundaries" at the Berkshire Mall site, which we covered in a separate preview; Ordinance 1465-2026, landscaping rules in the zoning ordinance; and Ordinance 1466-2026, landscape plans under the subdivision ordinance (agenda, p. 2; notice, pp. 4-5; ordinances, pp. 6-43).

The consent agenda, voted as one block, carries: Payment Application No. 1 to G&B Construction Group for $145,135.80 on the 2026 street work, on a $498,216.64 contract the engineer puts at 32 percent complete (pp. 68-69); the 2027 Animal Rescue League contract at $3.32 per capita, which the contract defines as per resident under the 2020 Census (p. 75); $25,300 to Shultz Forest Management and Consulting to mow invasive brush on 16.2 acres at 2120 Parkview Drive (p. 80); a time extension for the 915 Penn Avenue plan to Feb. 9, 2027 (p. 84); $14,152 for 10 recertified defibrillators (pp. 85-86); and the final $21,967.63 payment to Premier Building Restoration on the firehouse repairs, closing a $210,455.65 contract (pp. 87-88).

Two comment periods are on the agenda: one before the consent agenda, limited to "agenda items," and one near the end for "agenda or non-agenda items" (pp. 2-3). The policy council showed Nov. 3 limits each speaker to five minutes and each period to 20 minutes unless council votes to extend it, and asks for a full name and address (slide 14). Our guide explains how to find any Berks municipality's meeting schedule.