West Leechburg approves 5.5% tax increase

West Leechburg Council has adopted a $505,500 budget for 2020 that includes a 5.5% increase in property taxes.

Under the plan, the borough’s tax rate will go up 1.5 mills to 29 mills. At that rate, the owner of a home assessed at $15,218 — West Leechburg’s average assessed home value — will owe the borough $441 in property taxes, or about $23 more than this year.

Council members unanimously approved the tax increase and budget last week. Mayor Jim Gallucci said the tax increase is needed to cover the borough’s rising operating costs.

“It sounds like such a cliché, but costs for everything have gone up,” Gallucci said. “It just got to the point where we didn’t have a choice.”

West Leechburg last raised taxes in 2018, according to Secretary Pat Grantz. The rate went from 26 mills to 27.5 mills.

The budget includes a nearly 6% increase in the police budget, including money to pay the borough’s three part-time police officers. The total police budget is $47,055.

Police Chief Pete King will receive an extra $600 to perform administrative work.

Spending for special project repairs and maintenance of government buildings is more than doubling, to $1,662 from $800 this year.

Grantz said that money could be used to put metal siding on the borough’s municipal building.

“That building was built back in the late 1940s and it’s just cement block. They’re looking to update it a little bit,” she said.

The borough is budgeting $8,600 for parks and recreation, about $1,000 more than this year. Of that, $4,000 will be used to pay for new playground equipment, a new sign and rubber mulch at West Leechburg Memorial Park.

Grantz said she has reached out to the office of state Rep. Joseph Petrarca, D-Washington, to see if any grants would be available to help pay for the park upgrades. Petrarca’s district includes parts of Westmoreland, Armstrong and Indiana counties, including West Leechburg.

“The swings that we have down here, I think they go back to like 1997,” Grantz said. “Hopefully, we can get a grant.”