{"id":320063,"date":"2026-11-03T06:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320063\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T06:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:52:07","slug":"reading-city-council-members-question-idea-of-yearly-incremental-tax-increases-reading-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320063\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading City Council members question idea of yearly incremental tax increases | Reading Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

READING, Pa. \u2013 During the budget portion of its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, Reading City Council member Raymond E. Baker asked finance director Joseph Famiglietti to provide council with figures about how a fixed, consistent incremental tax increase would affect city finances over a four-year period.<\/p>\n

Early last month, Mayor Eddie Moran introduced his proposed 2027 budget of $129.25 million that did not require any tax increase.<\/p>\n

During that presentation, Moran said his administration recognized that last year, taxpayers were asked to shoulder a difficult tax increase, but because of shared sacrifice and discipline, taxes did not need to be increased in 2027.<\/p>\n

Baker told Famiglietti that he would like to see proposals for an incremental tax increase ranging from 1% to 5%.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it was discussed by our former city auditor, the idea of a consistent 1 to 3% tax increase so as to not overburden the taxpayer in giant chunks where all of a sudden their taxes go up 100 or 200 bucks,\u201d Baker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Property owners currently pay $19.21 for each $1,000 of assessed property value, or $1,921 for a property assessed at $100,000.<\/p>\n

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Reading Mayor Eddie Moran said safety remains a baseline of everything the city does, with 60 cents of every dollar going directly to public safety.<\/p>\n

Famiglietti said a 3% tax increase would net about $740,000 or revenue, and the value of one mil is $1.29 million.<\/p>\n

Baker noted this was also a major concern from Councilmember Jaime Baez who didn\u2019t want to see the city continuing to dip into its reserves to balance a budget.<\/p>\n

Baez was absent Monday night.<\/p>\n

Baker said he wants to see and better understand what a sustained yearly tax increase would look like for the financial health of the city.<\/p>\n

Council President Donna Reed agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everyone on council remembers, we were presented with a 9% increase (last year) and I think everybody worked really hard to reduce that to a more acceptable level,\u201d Reed said. \u201cSo incrementally, we could do it (raise taxes) bit by bit versus something (in a large amount.) I appreciate everybody’s hard work from the administration and council, but the incremental (tax increase), I think, is a lot better for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council is currently holding weekly budget meetings to meet with department heads to review the proposed 2027 budget by line items.<\/p>\n

A final budget is not anticipated to be adopted until December.<\/p>\n

\nCopyright 2026 Maranatha Broadcasting Co., Inc.. All Rights Reserved.\n<\/p>\n

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