Council Weighs 2021 Tax Hike

Swarthmore residents may see a 2.25%, 2.5%, or 2.75% tax increase next year – or they may see no increase at all. Various budget plans were discussed at Monday’s Swarthmore Borough Council work session, with a final decision scheduled for the November 9 legislative session.

When the council’s Finance Committee met to discuss the 2021 budget on October 20, they came up with three possible plans, any of which would raise taxes, according to finance committee chair Michael Carey. The plans vary depending on what council decides to fund. 

Expenditures being considered include a cost-of-living increase for borough employees, a 4% increase in the library’s budget to cover employee benefits and to make up the funds the library is projected to lose because of the pandemic, and environmentally conscious updates to buildings, such as the installation of solar panels on Borough Hall. 

Carey said the borough’s expenses are increasing, while revenue is not. Increasing taxes by 2-3% this year and next year will prevent council from having to raise taxes 5% or more all at once, he explained. Borough Manager Jane Billings said that for the average Swarthmore household, any of the three proposed plans would increase tax bills by $30-$40 in 2021. 

No Easy Choices

In light of the pandemic and the precarious state of the economy, council member Ross Schmucki encouraged his colleagues to consider a fourth option: not raising taxes at all. “I feel we should not have any new spending,” he said. “And we should have an across-the-board freeze on any raises.” He expressed concern over taxes “falling the heaviest on the people in the borough who have the least.” 

Council member Sarah Graden offered another point of view. “I believe that a budget speaks to what we on council value in our community.” She noted that the proposed budgets will cover cost-of-living increases, not raises. Their aim would be ensuring that borough employees have what they need. Supporting employees, together with “helping out the environment, the library: all of these things speak to our values,” she said. 

A lengthy discussion about how to increase borough revenue in the future included the possibility of taxing earned income.

Council asked Billings to draft a budget incorporating all the proposed expenditures, and a 2.25% tax increase, as a starting point for deliberations at the next meeting. This rate increase would not be sufficient to cover expenses, requiring the borough to reach into reserves. 

Council will continue discussing the budget at the November 9 legislative session, at which they will finalize the borough’s preliminary budget for 2021.

View this or any other Swarthmore Borough Council meeting here.