HARRISVILLE – To avoid going into debt by repaying tax dollars taken erroneously last year, borough council decided Monday, Feb. 10, to refund its taxpayers by decreasing taxes in the future, according to the council president.

The borough will decrease the millage by 2.5 for the 2026 and 2027 tax years, allowing council to repay residents the 5 mills that were taken in error during the 2024 tax season, Council President Kathy Bray said.

The idea was suggested by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, Bray said. She asked council to rescind a motion to borrow money to pay borough tax payers back that had been approved at the Jan. 13 meeting.

“I had asked for help from the Pennsylvania State Boroughs Association. When I sent this [the approved motion] back to them saying this is what we’ve done, I received two letters stating borrowing the money is going to cost taxpayers more money in at least $8,000 in interest,” Bray said. “We’re not having to borrow money, and we’re paying the taxpayers back.”

Council proceeded to take back the January action, and upon adding “pending attorney’s opinion to the new ordinance,” the plan to decrease future taxes passed with a unanimous vote.

The decision will decrease millage for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 by 2.5 mil and then resume the regular rate in 2028.

According to Bray, the previous council had approved an increase in the property tax rate by 5 mills from 8.25 to 13.25 mills. One mill is equal to $1 in property tax per $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

The increase in taxes went into effect at the beginning of 2025, but was collected in error during 2024.

When the motion was opened up for discussion, Council Member Mary Ann Hughes voiced her concerns with the change, urging council to consider waiting on approval.

“I don’t think we should vote on this until we see something legally. I think we’re putting ourselves up for a lawsuit because the money taken was not legal,” Hughes said.

Hughes questioned the legality of the decision, stating that members of the boroughs association can offer recommendations but do not offer legal advice.

“I do believe we should table this until we have legal advice,” Hughes said.

When asked by Hughes why there was a rush to move the motion to vote, Bray’s response was that this course of action would allow council to correct the error without borrowing and put the matter behind them.

Hughes stressed her concerns over the council being liable for a class-action lawsuit by borough taxpayers.

“I’m afraid we could be into a class-action lawsuit, any taxpayer could file a lawsuit [against the borough] if they wanted to,” Hughes said.

That’s when Dave Evans proposed that the motion be amended to include the wording, “pending attorney’s opinion.” The motion passed with a unanimous vote.

Council Member Gary Wray was the only other member of council to voice support in favor of tabling the matter until council could seek advice from its attorney.

Bray discovered the error in February of 2024 while attending a boot camp designed for newly elected borough officials. Bray says that by the time the error was realized, the tax cards for the 2024 tax season had already been mailed out to borough residents.

Initially, Bray hoped to refund tax payers via check, however, she later learned that the borough had a budget deficit of $23,000.