Letter writer criticizes Columbia council on tax hike

[NOTE: This letter appeared in today's LNP/LancasterOnline.]

Columbia Borough Council has discussed and agreed to raise taxes by 1 mill for 2025. Doing so will bring the municipal tax rate to 9 mills. Columbia Borough has the second-highest municipal tax rate in Lancaster County.

The topic of a tax increase was not specifically listed for discussion on the Nov. 7 agenda. The agenda stated that it would be a review of fund budgets. Once the topic turned to raising taxes, the discussion should have ended and been placed on the agenda for the next meeting.

Instead, the discussion about a tax increase became a detailed deliberation and went on for more than 50 minutes. According to LNP | LancasterOnline coverage of the Nov. 7 meeting, the council members ultimately agreed “to raise property taxes by 1 mill in 2025 to help counter a proposed $1.5 million to $1.7 million budget deficit on an $8.81 million spending plan for the borough’s general fund” (“Columbia Borough will raise taxes for first time since 2018,” Nov. 8 LancasterOnline.com).

Council members decided to schedule a meeting for public comment at 6 p.m. today, nearly two weeks after their initial discussion.

The decision to take more money from taxpayers is being made during a time when the borough has no finance manager.

Next April, many Columbia Borough homeowners will have to come up with an additional $100 to $200 in order to pay their municipal taxes. This is money that could be used to pay for groceries, utility bills, insurance premiums, etc. Taxpayers are being forced to tighten their belts because our elected officials won’t tighten theirs.

Sharon Lintner

Columbia