SAXONBURG — Residents may get a long-overdue tax increase starting next year, as borough council approved a draft version of its 2025 budget at its meeting Tuesday night, Nov. 19.

The proposed budget includes a 1.5-mill property tax increase.

If the budget is approved next month with the proposed rate increase unchanged, it would mark the first rate increase for the borough since 2013.

“This is the last thing I want to do. No one here wants to raise taxes,” said Aaron Piper, borough council president. “But we’ve had rampant inflation. We’ve cut the fat. We have done absolutely everything we can, and now we're sitting here and this is the recommendation.”

Without the rate increase, according to the draft budget, the borough would face a budget deficit of $19,088.

“We’ve passed a balanced budget every year,” Piper said. “I would never agree to a non-balanced budget.”

During the final budget discussions Tuesday, the rate increase initially was proposed at 2 mills instead of 1.5 mills. However, both Mayor William Gillespie and borough manager Steven May argued the borough should budget for higher real estate tax revenues in 2025 than it had originally estimated, and that a 1.5-mill increase would be sufficient.

“I don’t see us going backward, and I know we’re picking up more (real estate taxes),” May said. “Saxonburg Ceramics has sold. That’s going to start to develop. That’s going to increase.”

While the full draft budget was not immediately available to the Butler Eagle, it estimates borough expenses for the year to total $889,720. An estimated $61,406 of that amount is budgeted for employee benefits.

Much of the borough’s revenue is expected to come from taxes. Without the proposed 1.5-mill increase factored in, council currently estimates receiving $263,000 in real estate taxes, and $247,610 in per capita taxes.

Council can vote on the finalized budget at its Dec. 17 meeting.