Allentown residents could see their taxes go up next year by around 4%, which Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said Thursday is necessary to keep city services operating.<\/p>\n
The city, facing budget constraints, also cut all of its department budgets by 10% this year, scaled back some major projects and reduced some benefits for employees.<\/p>\n
In a news conference, Tuerk said that the \u201csmall tax increase\u201d will help keep vital city programs running, including police, EMS, fire and public works.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking our residents to take on this small tax increase to help us continue to deliver the city services that means so much to our residents,\u201d Tuerk said. \u201cOur residents deserve prompt attention to a pothole that they\u2019ve reported at 311. Our residents deserve fire, police and paramedics that show up in an unbelievably low response time. \u2026 Our residents deserve safe places to live, where our code inspectors and our rental inspectors are holding landlords accountable. Our residents deserve high-quality public health. These are the things that our residents deserve, and we are going to continue to deliver them. In order to accomplish that, we asked our department heads and our employees to give something up, but we are asking our residents to give something as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city faces costs that are increasing more quickly than its revenue streams, which is why the budget cuts and tax increase are necessary, he said. The 3.81% tax increase will result in an average tax increase of $1.75 a month for residents, according to the city\u2019s calculations; residents can view the proposed increase for their property at Allentownpa.gov\/budget.<\/a><\/p>\n The cuts to the city budget did not result in employee layoffs. Rather, they included reduced spending on fuel for the Public Works Department, eliminating vacant positions from the Allentown Police Department, and postponing studies and analyses planned in the Community and Economic Development Department, city officials said.<\/p>\n Budget cuts also meant that plans for the police department renovations and a new Allentown Central Fire building will be scaled down, the mayor announced. Tuerk did not offer specifics about the changes to those plans, although he said that they are \u201cpretty small changes.\u201d<\/p>\n The city also will cut some employee benefits. Specifically, the city will no longer cover the cost of GLP-1 medication for its employees, which was projected to cost the city over $5 million annually, Tuerk said, and will no longer offer healthcare benefits to nonunion retired employees who join the city\u2019s workforce after Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n Despite the budget cuts, the city is continuing to spend on traffic safety improvements; it will carry out 18 traffic projects next year, including traffic signal upgrades, speed cushions and traffic intersection improvements, according to a news release. The safety improvements are part of the city\u2019s stated goal of \u201cVision Zero,\u201d which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2030.<\/a><\/p>\n