Latrobe officials plan to hold the line on taxes next year despite an increase in health benefit costs and moves to boost staff and equipment for a shift to in-house garbage hauling.

City council voted last week to advertise a proposed 2026 budget with projected revenues of $7.52 million, which exceeds planned expenditures by about $19,750.

The property tax rate is slated to remain at 21.5 mills.

Expenditures are expected to increase by more than $85,000 from the current year’s budget, with personnel and health costs among the driving factors, according to city manager Sue Trout.

“There is definitely an increase in costs for us as far as employees and their benefits,” she said. “The hospitalization costs have increased significantly.”

City spending for major medical insurance is slated to go up by more than 16%, to $840,000. But the city won’t be alone in feeling the pinch of the premium hikes.

Trout said a handful of workers who are part of the AFSCME AFL-CIO Council 83 Local 629 union and have medical coverage through Highmark will see their share of premiums increase.

Trout reported costs for UPMC coverage are slated to increase by 7% while the respective costs for Highmark are going up by 12%.

Because the Highmark rate hike exceeds 10%, it triggered reopening of the union contract to revisit health benefits.

Council approved a memorandum of understanding with the union that increases affected workers’ per-pay premium cost by $25. A worker with individual Highmark coverage will see an increase to $55 per pay period.

Trout said the city additionally will see premiums increase by 6% for vision benefits and 7.5% for dental coverage.

Latrobe is building up its workforce for the new year. Three employees have been added to the public works department and three trucks have been added to the fleet as the city prepares to take on collection of residential municipal waste and recyclable items in January.

Still, the proposed budget shows a roughly $486,000 decrease in total sanitation spending, to about $1.42 million.

That seems to fall in line with city officials’ calculation that an in-house garbage service can operate more cheaply than continuing to contract with an outside hauler. Latrobe paid a little more than $1 million to Republic Services this year, as the city ended its refuse service agreement with the company.

City Hauling is taking over collection of refuse from commercial customers in the city as part of a five-year contract.

“It’s going to be a benefit to us,” Trout said of the in-house move. “It’s an effort to keep the residents’ costs down.”

Transfer station fee hike proposed

While there’s no plan to increase residents’ fees for curbside pickup of garbage, Trout said the city is proposing to raise fees for those — mostly nonresidents — who bring items directly to the city’s solid waste transfer station for disposal.

The per-ton cost to dispose municipal waste at the station would increase from $120 to $130, with the minimum charge rising from $20 to $22.

Trout said the transfer station allows the city to compact the collected garbage, reducing the number of required trips to the local landfill.

Other personnel developments that are reflected in next year’s budget include filling a finance director position that has been vacant since the June resignation of Timothy Pisula and continuing full-time employment of two code enforcement officers who have been promoted from part-time status.

“It seems the public is really wanting more enforcement,” Trout said. “Everybody has a vested interest in wanting to keep their property values up, and we share in that.”

Recycling, stormwater funding sought

An unknown factor in next year’s finances is whether various grants the city has applied for will be approved.

To help offset some of the costs of its new in-house garbage collection service, Latrobe applied for nearly $3 million in funding from the federal Solid Waste Infrastructure For Recycling program.

That grant award process has been delayed, Trout said.

“We were really hoping we would hear this month, but I don’t know due to the (recent government) shutdown how soon we’ll hear about it.”

Latrobe also is hoping for approval of state funding to help with stormwater improvements proposed for the areas of Joanne Drive and Gertrude, James and Cherry streets.

If the funding isn’t approved, Trout said, the city will have to turn to its own fee-generated stormwater fund.

“Joanne is at the very bottom below (Independence Health Latrobe Hospital),” Deputy Mayor Ralph Jenko said. “It’s subject to flooding. The pipes can’t handle the water.”

Council is expected to vote on a final version of the budget in December.

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