{"id":316211,"date":"2026-10-28T17:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T17:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316211\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T17:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T17:48:08","slug":"scranton-mayor-to-propose-no-tax-hike-city-budget-for-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316211\/","title":{"rendered":"Scranton mayor to propose no-tax-hike city budget for 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scranton\u2019s mayor announced Wednesday she will propose a city budget for 2027 that will not increase taxes or the annual trash-collection fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked year after year to bring our city out of distressed status and efficiently and effectively manage our city\u2019s finances, and provide a stable financial future,\u201d Mayor Paige Cognetti said in a statement. \u201cI am proud of the work our team has done to continue to provide critical services to the people of Scranton while enacting measures that put our city on sound fiscal footing and respects taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be the fifth of seven annual budgets proposed by Cognetti that has not included a city property tax increase. Cognetti took office in January 2020. Under her tenure, there were no tax increases in 2021 and 2022, a 2% hike in each of 2023 and 2024, and no tax hikes in 2025 and 2026. She proposed a 3% property tax hike in 2023 and a 3.5% increase in 2024, both of which were reduced by Scranton City Council to 2% hikes in each of those years.<\/p>\n

The operating budget for 2027, which has not yet been presented to Scranton City Council, will outline expected municipal revenues and expenditures. The timeline process for enacting a budget includes:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A city budget must be proposed annually by the mayor to Scranton City Council by Nov. 15.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Public hearings on the proposed budget must take place by Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Council then may adopt or amend the budget by Dec. 15.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s $115.5 million city budget for 2026 ended the city\u2019s split property tax rates of one rate for land and the other for improvements that dated to 1913. Instead, the city now has only one property tax rate, as do nearly all other municipalities in the state.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s 2026 single millage tax rate of 6.3509 mills would remain the same in 2027 under a no-tax-increase budget. A mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value.<\/p>\n

The proposed 2027 budget also would keep other taxes and the garbage-collection fee the same:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Trash fee, $300.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Earned-income (wage) tax, 2.4%.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Real estate transfer tax, 2.2%.<\/p>\n

Cognetti cited Scranton\u2019s recently released financial audit for 2025 that showed a $3.6 million surplus in the city\u2019s general fund and no negative findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surplus and the Cognetti administration\u2019s ability to offer proposed budgets without a tax increase are the result of continued strong revenue growth and expenditure controls across all city departments,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

She also recounted some other recent positive steps achieved in the city government\u2019s improved fiscal health:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0In 2022, the city successfully exited the state Act 47 municipal financial distress oversight program, and has since had continued positive economic growth.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Standard & Poor\u2019s credit-rating organization upgraded Scranton\u2019s credit rating five times since exiting Act 47, with the rating currently at an A- grade.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In 2025, Scranton received the Secretary\u2019s Award for Municipal Excellence from Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Community and Economic Development, which recognized the city as a place where local leaders are committed to dynamic change for the betterment of residents, businesses and neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt Scranton City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti discusses a five-year financial projection of city finances completed recently by the nonprofit Pennsylvania Economy League. (JIM LOCKWOOD \/ STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scranton\u2019s mayor announced Wednesday she will propose a city budget for 2027 that will not increase taxes or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-316211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}