After tax hike, city leaders seek legislative change how local taxes get levied

By Chris Benson

Williamsport, P.a. — City officials are planning for a “bumpy couple years financially” following a recently-approved budget and tax increase.

Last week, city council signed-off on Williamsport’s $36 million budget in a second and final reading that calls for a .33 mill property tax increase leveling at a 17.05 mill tax rate. Councilwoman Bonnie Katz and Councilman Eric Beiter voted no on the tax increase. Katz also was the lone no vote on the 2025 budget.

“I want to thank my administration, particularly our Director of Finance, Jamie Livermore, as well as city council for their work on passing our 2025 budget,” Mayor Derek Slaughter said. “While it was not an easy process, it was essential for us to take a hard look at the numbers. Through collaboration, we made some tough decisions that will ensure a more solvent, fiscally responsible future for Williamsport.”

The city’s tax rate and budget are approved by vote in separate ordinances. The city will have a cash balance starting next year of $1.1 million. It arrived after Slaughter’s administration made more than $350,000 in new spending cuts across city departments to better position the city financially. But only 25% of the budget realistically “can be manipulated” to accommodate such cuts, according to Jamie Livermore, the city’s director of finance. “There’s things we can’t willy-nilly just say we’re not gonna pay,” added Councilwoman Liz Miele, council’s finance committee chair.

But while the budget did get approved, council members admit it was done so begrudgingly and out of necessity. All expressed a need to “stop spending money we don’t have.” Miele has called for “incremental” tax increases over the years as a fairer way to slowly adjust taxpayers to the reality of future and current property tax increases based on rising costs. “Going forward I will not support a tax increase in any shape or form,” Councilman Vince Pulizzi said.

This week, Council President Adam Yoder went over the difficult financial spot the council is in and outlined drastic steps local officials have sought to modify the ability of municipalities like Williamsport to levy taxes which could have an impact on other communities across Pennsylvania. “At the end of the day, none of us want to increase taxes,” Yoder said.

Nearly 80% of the city’s budget is tied to long-term personnel costs like salaries, health benefits, pension, and overtime costs that extend back decades. “You’re seeing a lot of longstanding trends that years ago were probably in-line with the broader employment market,” according to Yoder, who added it means budget plans now involve “playing catch-up” with meeting the city’s past financial commitments. He said there’s “so many components that make governing challenging.”

As county seat, Williamsport has the biggest police and fire staff in Lycoming County, Yoder noted. “None of us want to take cops or fire personnel off the street or inhibit our ability to plow snow in the winter,” he said of the struggle city leaders constantly face. “Those are the things that you’d be trading off.” Yoder says “hard choices or new approaches” are on the horizon. Councillors and Slaughter’s administration indicated their intent to expand future budget talks to include deeper financial planning as officials look to Williamsport’s 2026 operating budget and beyond. “There’s no magic wand for this,” added Yoder, a Republican in his second term. A problem facing Williamsport is a population “that has been shrinking for decades,” Yoder said, coupled with a state mandate to provide vital local services for residents. “It costs us more now to plow and salt the streets than it did 10 years ago.” And while things like variable costs have all changed over the years, “the rate of change is not proportional for our rate of revenue growth.”

‘Positive’ but cautious conversations

For some time, Yoder, along with other council members, have pushed for changes to state tax laws for the first time in more than 55 years, and he says Williamsport is now “uniquely positioned to take a good leadership role in that.” Slaughter called it a “top priority” for the Pennsylvania Municipal League. Notably, Slaughter in October was elected president of the league by leaders of localities like Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and scores of others representing nearly 4 million citizens as a unified voice to lawmakers at the state capital. Yoder has expressed excitement and optimism over the recent development and also pointed to the legislative seniority status of State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23), who sits on a number of key Senate committees, as another vehicle that makes Williamsport ready to lead the charge statewide. On Saturday, Slaughter said it’s time to update the state’s antiquated tax laws to give “more flexibility to local governments” in Pennsylvania. 

At the first budget meeting recently, Yoder and Slaughter had a brief back-and-forth over the topic. “It’s already started,” the mayor said at the time. But this week, the council president says “positive conversations” have happened with Slaughter and “we absolutely will” lobby lawmakers to fix the taxing capabilities of municipalities in the coming new year largely because it’s been eyed for some time and the timing seems right. “It’s in front of us now,” Yoder said Friday. “I think it would be a good thing for us to pursue.” 

 Reorganizational meeting set

The next city council meeting will be 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2 on the third floor of Trade & Transit Center II at 144 West Third Street. In addition, the first meeting of 2025 will also be council’s reorganizational meeting and election of new council officers.