COLUMBIA SPY

In the contest for borough councillors, political newcomers Heather Zink, Sharon Lintner, Eric Kauffman and Howard Stevens secured seats on the council which  must reorganize on the first Monday in January of each even numbered year unless it is a holiday. Current council president Kelly Murphy received the fifth most votes yesterday. MORE: https://columbianewsandviews.com/2019/11/06/revived-voter-energy-brings-new-elected-public-servants-to-columbia-governance/

 Totals By Precinct  Totals (2-year) By Precinct (2-year)

[Source: Lancaster County Board of Elections] Totals By Precinct

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Polls are open 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sample ballot

Some Columbia Borough officials would have you believe that the borough is on the upswing. Unfortunately, that's not the case. In fact, borough council has overspent its budget over the last several years and continues to do so. As you can see on the graph below, expenditures have exceeded revenues for the past few years. If this continues (and it appears to be), a huge municipal tax hike (31%) is in our future. The figures shown above were taken from the borough's own audit reports compiled by Sager, Swisher & Co. This recent LNP article states that the borough might narrowly avoid a 31% municipal tax hike this year. To do this, they will have to take more than a million dollars (over 50%) from reserves. If this rate of overspending continues, a tax hike will be inevitable by the end of next year due to overspending. Borough council, led by President Kelly Murphy, passed a 21.2% tax increase for this year. Murphy and Cleon Berntheizel have been chair and v...