While no revisions were made to the proposed 2017 Borough of North Catasauqua budget, the spending plan did not pass without protest.

Borough Councilman John Yanek cast an opposing vote on both the general fund and the sewer fund budgets at the Dec. 13, 2016, council meeting. Residents will see a 1.5-mill increase in taxes to support the projected annual expenses.

Resolutions to approve the general fund budget of $1,583,000 and sewer fund budget of $567,550 were approved by a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Billy Duch absent.

Yanek had not been present at the Nov. 15, 2016, meeting, at which the proposed budget was discussed, so this was his first opportunity to publicly express his opinion.

He protested the increase because, he said, the purchase of a new aerial fire truck two years ago is what ultimately led to the raise in taxes. Had it not been for that purchase, “we may not have had an increase in fees and taxes,” he said.

“We’ll end up paying a mill for the truck,” he said but voted without further discussion. “I don’t want to start a big fight again,” he said.

The new rate for 2017 taxes is now set at 12.2 mills.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Bill Nothstein commented.

“It was tough to pass that budget, but what we do in this community is pretty awesome,” he said. “There’s a lot of good, a lot of good people willing to help others.”

He said his family’s Mrs. Nothstein’s Helping Hands fund is helping two families in North Catasauqua with financial needs and added he received a call from a resident who offered to help another family during the holidays.

“We live in a community that cares about its neighbors,” he said.

Yanek said the borough recreation committee also is doing something to assist a family.

In other business, Council President Peter Paone reported he had met with Nothstein and Councilwoman Michele Hazzard to discuss how the borough should bill civic organizations for their use of public works crew members during their community events.

“We don’t want to see the borough use a huge amount of resources,” Paone said. The committee of three had met to see if some middle ground could be proposed, so organizations that improve the quality of life in North Catasauqua are not billed for overtime weekend hours by public works employees.

Borough crew members worked 22 overtime hours at the borough betterment committee’s carnival in June and 52 overtime hours at the committee’s Autumnfest and car show in October.

“The policy we discussed was to allow up to $1,000 in in-kind work by the borough road crew for each event,” Paone said.

They also discussed the possibility of taking advantage of assigning part-time seasonal borough employees, who are paid less than full-time employees, to help out at the events. A seasonal employee would typically be paid $10 an hour, whereas a full-time borough worker, working overtime on a weekend, might be paid $30 an hour.

“We don’t want to pay $30 an hour for changing toilet paper rolls and emptying trash bags,” Paone said.

In exchange for the borough assistance at events, the committee of three recommended an acknowledgment of the borough’s contribution should be noted by the organizations.

Nothstein predicted that, with the use of seasonal workers when possible, the only annual event that would go over the $1,000 complementary staffing would be the borough betterment committee’s Autumnfest event.