After rejecting two attempts to further reduce the proposed tax increase, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners adopted the 2027 budget Oct. 28, meeting the county’s Oct. 31 deadline.

Commissioners approved the budget, as amended Oct. 14, by a 7-2 vote.

County Executive Josh Siegel originally proposed a budget with a tax rate of 4.45 mills. During the Oct. 14 meeting, commissioners approved amendments that reduced real estate tax revenue by slightly more than $1.3 million, lowering the tax rate by 0.04 mills.

The budget approved Oct. 28 incorporated amendments adopted two weeks earlier that eliminated proposed chief of staff and communications director positions and removed a $500,000 clean elections grant. The changes generated about $1.39 million in savings, reducing the proposed tax rate from 4.45 mills to 4.41 mills while leaving public safety staffing and juvenile probation funding intact.

Commissioners Antonio Pineda and Sarah Fevig argued additional reductions were possible.

Pineda introduced a motion directing Siegel to submit a revised budget with a tax rate of 3.78 mills, which would have kept the county’s tax rate unchanged.

“The 3.78 is extraordinarily, I think, reckless, and would be unbelievably catastrophic for our county services,” Siegel said.

The motion failed for lack of a second.

Fevig then proposed a revised budget with a tax rate of 4.31 mills. While acknowledging the need for additional tax revenue to support county growth and services, she argued more reductions could be made.

“The tax revenue growth is simply not keeping up with the cost of the services that we as a county need to provide,” Fevig said.

Commissioners Dan Hartzell and Chairman Geoff Brace indicated they would not support the motion, citing concerns about additional service cuts beyond those already made through the Oct. 14 amendments.

“We presented a budget that we believed was strategic, tactical and responsible,” Siegel said. “It is incumbent on the board, if it feels the need to cut deeper, to be specific in what it thinks those solutions should be.”

Siegel added Fevig’s proposed tax rate would balance the 2027 budget but would not provide long-term financial stability.

In a roll-call vote, only Commissioners Ron Beitler and Fevig supported the motion.

With both proposals defeated, commissioners voted on the amended budget, which sets the tax rate at 4.41 mills. Commissioners Zach Cole-Borghi and Pineda voted against adoption, while the remaining seven commissioners voted in favor.

Commissioners also approved, 7-2, an election and registration commission application. Commissioners Phillips Armstrong and Sheila Alvarado voted against the measure.

The action comes ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, when voters considered a referendum to expand the election and registration commission from three voting members to five.

In other business, commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting a grant request for the Riverside Drive project in partnership with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. The project aims to improve connectivity between communities and neighborhoods while enhancing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

Brace called it “one of those keystone projects that becomes multigenerational in its scope when it’s completed.”