Home Rule Charter could relieve city of Erie tax woes
It is time for Erie City Council to restart the Home Rule Charter process.
The most pressing problem facing the city of Erie is a financial problem, and because the city operates under the Third Class City Code it has limited tools to fix that problem. Other than raising property taxes, there is very little the city can do to increase funding to provide the services expected by the community.
On a per capita basis, Erie’s budget is in line with that of similar sized cities in the commonwealth, which indicates there are not many opportunities to reduce the budget.
The seal of the city of Erie is displayed on the north wall of the Bagnoni Council Chambers at Erie City Hall in this file photo. Here, a reader urges City Council to resume talks on changing the form of city government.
Many of these comparably sized cities also receive more than half of their revenue from sources other than property taxes, while Erie relies more heavily on property taxes. The Home Rule Charter offers an opportunity to add financial flexibility to fix Erie’s budget problems without relying on property tax increases.
Erie City Council owes the residents of the city a chance to study the Home Rule options and determine the best path forward.
David Uhlig, Erie
Your generosity powers the Erie County Library book drive
On April 25, the Friends of the Erie County Library held its biannual book drive at the Flo Fabrizio Ice Center. The turnout was unprecedented. Hundreds of people braved the rainy weather and long lines to drop off an extraordinary number of books, DVDs, CDs, records, puzzles, and video games.
We have never experienced such a groundswell of community support, and we are tremendously grateful to everyone who donated and to our team of dedicated volunteers. We also appreciate the patience of those who encountered heavy traffic during the event. Your support helped make this one of our most successful book drives to date.
The donated books and media will be sold at our book sales, with all proceeds supporting services and programming developed by the outstanding leadership and staff of the Erie County Public Library. Every book and piece of media dropped off at the ice rink ultimately supports literacy and community initiatives, many of which benefit the region’s youth.
Related: Great American Book Sale set sales record in 2025. When is 2026 sale?
We are indebted to our community and volunteers, and we encourage everyone to continue supporting the Erie County Public Library and the Friends of the Library. This event was a powerful reminder of what a generous and engaged community we are fortunate to serve. We hope to see everyone at the Great American Book Sale, June 14-19, at the Ice Center.
Benjamin (Hank) Barbour, president, Friends of the Erie County Library
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Home Rule Charter government could solve Erie’s tax woes | Letters