WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown stood in front of the city council on Thursday to propose a budget for 2021.
"I see a great future for the city of Wilkes-Barre. It doesn't come without making some difficult decisions," said Mayor Brown.
Mayor Brown said as a direct result of the pandemic, the city has lost millions in revenue from things like mercantile taxes, parking, and other fees, so the only fix he sees means an increase for sewer and recycling fees.
"Increasing residential sewer fees from $50 to $100 per year, doubling the existing nonresidential commercial fee rate structure that will be in line with the new residential rate increase, increasing residential recycling fees from $50 to $100 per year," explained Brown.
The Wilkes-Barre City Council still has to review and approve the budget, but Brown says it's the only option he sees available.
"These increases are necessary, although it doesn't fix all of our problems, we hope to defray those costs while still keeping fees lower than most other municipalities around us," added Brown.
Some Wilkes-Barre residents are frustrated with the proposal.
"More things that we have to worry about, I don't think that's fair, you know? When are we going to get a break from our fees going up? And all the things going wrong in Wilkes-Barre there's somewhere out there he could pull that money from," said Rodney Howard of Wilkes-Barre.
In his proposal, Mayor Brown explained he's already taking a salary cut, and his administration is doing everything it can to save the city money. But the pandemic was unexpected and hit the city with a lot of extra costs, like increasing the city's recycling by 25 percent while many work from home.
"I see all these places, New York, Philadelphia, everyone's getting these tax breaks, and they're getting funding from their governor. He should really be going to Harrisburg, and that's where he needs to go instead of coming to Wilkes-Barre and pulling on our, you know, it's a hard time right now," added Howard.
The City council will still need to review and pass the budget, and that will include having a public meeting where residents can voice concerns or suggestions for the city to consider instead.
A date has not been set for that yet, but you can find a link to the city's website for an update.