READING, Pa. – Reading\u2019s 2026 budget is officially approved, but many residents are still asking why City Council lowered the tax hike from the mayor\u2019s proposed 9% down to 6%, and what that decision really means for taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Councilman Chris Miller says the vote was a compromise after weeks of emails, public comments, and pressure from homeowners, especially seniors on fixed incomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job is to vocalize what they feel. They understood there needed to be an increase, but they felt strongly that nine percent was just too much at this time,\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n
Miller told 69 News the decrease will help residents, but it does come with cuts.<\/p>\n
\u2028City Council removed funding for community engagement and scrapped plans for projects like the controversial ice skating rink.<\/p>\n
He also says council wants to better explain how the city spends money. Part of that, he says, will now include scheduled updates throughout the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need to educate the public on how city services work, and so we\u2019ve decided that we will now have quarterly reports on the budget,\u201d Councilman Miller said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the mayor\u2019s office sharply criticized the reduction, calling it \u201ca step backward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statement from the Mayor\u2019s Office:\u2028<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amendments approved are concerning and represent a step backward\u2026 The 9% tax increase was designed to protect public safety, maintain services, and avoid larger disruptions in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING, Pa. – Reading\u2019s 2026 budget is officially approved, but many residents are still asking why City Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1089,990,84,28,736,128,130,129,32469,2261,9346],"class_list":{"0":"post-59607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-chris-miller","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-mayor","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-reading","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news","16":"tag-reading-council","17":"tag-tax","18":"tag-tax-hike"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59607","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=59607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}