Council President Yoder announced final passage of Williamsport’s 2026 operating budgets Thursday after more than an hour of discussion on employee health‑care contributions, staffing and short‑term attrition measures.

The council voted 6‑0 to adopt the budgets and separately approved a tax ordinance that implements a half‑mill property tax increase incorporated in the spending plan.

The discussion centered on two main proposals recommended by the city’s financial advisers, PFM: increasing employee health‑care contributions for at‑will employees and enacting limited attrition to reduce near‑term payroll costs. Jamie Schroeder, an administration budget staffer, summarized PFM’s suggested ranges for health‑care contribution changes and advised a phased approach; councilmembers generally agreed to study the change and revisit implementation in the spring or summer to allow employee engagement and an RFP for insurance providers.

Council President Yoder moved an attrition proposal that would remove 0.3 of a first‑year firefighter position — intended to avoid backfilling an anticipated retirement in January 2027 — but the measure drew opposition from fire leadership. Chief Sam Angst told council that eliminating the position would increase overtime costs and complicate the bureau’s regionalization efforts, noting training and academy timing for any replacement. After debate the motion to reduce firefighter staffing failed on a recorded vote, 5‑2.

A separate motion to remove one full first‑year police officer also failed, but Councilmember Meeley successfully offered an amendment that reduced the police salary line by $71,700 to account for the likely deployment of a current officer. Police administration had provided a breakdown showing academy reimbursement and deployment savings that, the department said, would make the salary line reduction feasible if a deployment occurs. The amendment passed 5‑1.

Council members repeatedly emphasized operational risk and the human costs of reducing sworn staffing. "We need to be mindful of overtime, sick‑time and the resiliency of our first responders," a councilmember said during the exchange. Administration and department leaders agreed to provide more frequent reporting on staffing, regionalization deployments and overtime impacts.

The council also discussed timing and scale for employee contribution changes; members favored a resolution in early 2026 with a six‑month lead time so affected workers could plan and so bargaining and an RFP could proceed.

The final vote adopting the budgets and related ordinance took place after those amendments and passed unanimously. The council directed staff to bring back clarified implementation steps and to continue engagement with affected departments and labor representatives.

What’s next: The council will revisit health‑care contribution policy and monitor reporting on staffing, overtime and regionalization as the city prepares the 2027 budget cycle.