HONESDALE, PA — While previous drafts of the budget planned to raise property taxes or implement an earned income tax, the final draft budget proposed for the Borough of Honesdale keeps taxes level in 2025, with no change from the year before. 

This budget, sent to borough councilors on Friday, November 1, is the third draft budget presented to the council in the past two weeks. “I apologize for the confusion with the various drafts and the evaluations of the budgets and statements of the prior documents,” reads a statement from councilor and finance committee chair William McAllister. “After careful review with multiple borough officials, it has been determined that no tax increase is needed.”

What’s in the budget?

While the budget does not raise taxes, it does provide for some increases in services. 

The budget allocates funding to hire one additional full-time police officer in 2025. 

Councilor and public safety commissioner Jason Newbon told the River Reporter the committee talked with Police Chief Richard Southerton in deciding to hire one additional officer. Whether or not the borough had the money to hire additional officers, the challenges of the current hiring environment led the council to set the goal of one officer for 2025, Newbon said.  

Additionally, the council plans to spend $361,000 for stormwater repairs, up from $290,000 in 2024, and to spend $953,368 on public works and road repairs for the year. 

How did we get here?

The final draft budget came together after several contentious budget meetings. 

On October 21, McAllister proposed a first budget draft with an earned income tax (EIT) at a special council meeting. The council voted down the EIT at that meeting, leading McAllister to make changes to the proposed budget. 

An EIT would tax one percent of the income of people who live and/or work in Honesdale, and was projected to bring in $325,000. 

McAllister, councilor and chair of the finance committee, told the River Reporter he’d left the October 21 meeting intending to revise the budget and remove the EIT but, once he dove into the numbers, he found unexpected holes in the budget, such as $400,000 in unanticipated expenses between October and the end of the year.

On Monday, October 28, McAllister proposed a $4.9 million budget which included both an EIT and a one-mill property tax increase, looking to fill the holes in the budget that he’d found. The council once again voted against the EIT, leaving a $325,000 hole in the budget. 

After revisions during the following week, leading up to the public noticing of the budget on Monday, November 4, it was determined that neither an EIT nor a property tax increase was needed. 

“I regret not starting the budget process sooner and requesting assistance from my fellow committee members,” McAllister wrote, in a note introducing the draft budget.