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Council backs ordinance on voluntary PMRS contributions, reviews 2026 budget and reallocates CDBG funds toward fire safety
Summary
Council voted to adopt Ordinance 2025-12, allowing non-uniformed employees to make voluntary PMRS contributions; members reviewed the proposed 2026 budget with millage adjustments and discussed reprogramming CDBG funds to buy self-contained breathing apparatus for the fire department.
Lewistown Borough Council voted on Ordinance 2025-12 to allow non-uniformed employees to make additional voluntary contributions to the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System (PMRS); the ordinance had been advertised and passed on a roll-call vote of members present.
Council finance staff reviewed highlights of the proposed 2026 budget and several millage adjustments intended to cover street-lighting, fire services and other costs. Staff reported the general borough fund projecting a modest positive balance, estimated combined reserves across funds of roughly $300,000, and recommended advertising the proposed 2026 budget for public review. Specific millage adjustments discussed included raising the lighting millage from 0.736 to 1.119 mills, a fire tax change from 0.267 to 0.2299 mills and a real-estate tax rate increase from 13.859 to 14.859 mills. Staff estimated the average household would see about a $45 increase under the proposed rates.
Separately, Carol High reported on a prior decision to abandon a 2023 CDBG street-reconstruction budget line (covering parts of West 4th, West 5th and North Front Street) and to reallocate that funding toward park improvements and fire-safety purchases. She said combined 2023 and 2024 funding set aside for fire safety is "a little over $240,000" and described a two-phase procurement approach. The borough plans to purchase self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) across funding cycles (the slide referenced 35 SCBAs as the target order) and will use available grant and DCED approval timelines to complete procurement.
Board manager and finance staff also discussed potential parking-ticket ordinance updates and possible LSA grant submissions for police vehicles pending state budget rollouts. The meeting record shows staff will move forward to advertise the budget and continue procurement planning for fire equipment.
Roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript for the ordinance (as read) were: Lisa Hudson Yes; Bob Bartlett Yes; Jim Steele Yes; Steve Hudson Yes; Scott Detro Yes; Matt Moore Yes. The transcript did not record nay votes for that item.
