In a nearly unanimous vote of 5 to 1, Hellertown Council passed an increase in property taxes by .75 mills in the 2019 budget. The .75 mill increase is equivalent to approximately $75 a year for properties assessed at $100,000. The only no vote came from brand new council member Andrew Hughes, who is in the process of getting up to speed. Council member James Hill was not present at the meeting.

The comments during the meeting evolved from concerns by citizens about a rumor of laying off two police officers, to dispelling the rumor and how it relates to funding and taxes.

Originally the two officers were never in the borough’s budget. Funding came from gaming grants dispersed by the county gaming authority. With a change in state law, the county authority has been discontinued. According to Council President Thomas Rieger, “this problem resides with the state.”

Rieger did say the rumors of two layoffs are false. He noted the borough is funding one of those officers out of the general fund tax dollars and to fund the second, the tax increase would be 2 mills, and the same the following year, which he believes the community can’t do. Rieger explained one full time officer alone costs the borough $130,000 with benefits.

According to Rieger, “as everybody knows, Hellertown has I think going to be the highest rate in Northampton County. We are fast approaching the max millage the borough can tax.”

In addition, Rieger noted the borough is facing challenges, including rising costs such as an insurance increase of 6.2 percent and contractual raises which went up 2.5 to 3 percent in the police and public works department.

Rieger went onto say, “at the end of the day it’s not taking a thousand dollars here, it’s we’re no longer doing road paving or we’re no longer going to have x department; that’s the type of money we’re talking about here.”

In other news, in a fundraising initiative for St. Theresa School in Hellertown, Mayor David Heitzelman presented students Alex and Henry the honor of being “mayor for a day.” At a pre-arranged date and time, Alex and Henry will be picked up at their home by a police car and given a tour of what the mayor and police department do. According to Heitzelman, this is meant to “educate our children of the future.”