Hanover council approves 2026 management compensation adjustments and civil-service testing

HANOVER BOROUGH, Pa. — At the Dec. 17 Finance and Personnel Committee meeting, Hanover Borough Council approved Resolution 5.04 setting 2026 compensation and health-insurance premium shares for nonunion management positions and separately authorized civil-service promotional testing to fill police sergeant and lieutenant vacancies.

Assistant Borough Manager explained the compensation changes are based on the borough’s compensation policy (in place since Feb. 2022) and that the borough’s health-insurance premiums rose 18.2% for the year; under the resolution, affected nonunion employees will pay 7.5% of the insurance premium increase.

"Those are all of your management positions, all of your senior level personnel, who fall under the nonunion...their compensation is based on their performance evaluations and our borough compensation policy," the assistant manager said during discussion.

On item 5.09, a police representative described plans to run two civil-service promotional tests — one for sergeant and one for lieutenant — to fill a detective-sergeant vacancy and create an eligibility list for future retirements and personnel changes; police staffing rules allow five sergeants and the department currently has four.

Voting and next steps: Both measures passed at the meeting. Council discussion included one or two recorded negative votes on the compensation resolution; staff committed to providing documentation supporting the proposed compensation adjustments. The civil-service testing authorization will permit the borough to establish eligibility lists and move forward with internal promotions under civil-service procedures.