Bath Borough Council will reportedly hold the line on general fund taxes for 2022.

Borough Manager Brad Flynn said he was delighted there has only been one general fund tax hike in the borough in 13 years. Flynn recounted the last general fund tax hike was in 2012. Before that, the 2008 budget contained a tax hike.

Flynn credits council with making tough decisions to help the budgeting process to allow for no tax hike.

He reported the move of the borough hall from the Wolf School and subsequent sale of that building; the ability to garner strong volunteer assistance to renovate the Thirst Quenchers building into the new borough hall; and the difficult decision to replace the Colonial Regional Police Department with the Pennsylvania State Police all contributed to the ability to stave off tax hikes.

These decisions resulted in a tax dollar infusion into the Bath Borough funds - to date, in excess of $2 million. The federal American Rescue Plan also contributed to the favorable budgetary environment.

Flynn did sound the alarm in his Oct. 4 budget presentation that the “gains (from prior decisions) are evaporating.” He emphasized the need for council to be fiscally prudent moving forward.

The fire tax budget did sustain a 0.25-mill tax hike, which translates to an increase of about $1.04 a month for homeowners.

In other business at the Oct. 4 meeting, council approved the advertising of ordinance 2021-713 to add stop sign locations at Mulberry and Green streets and ordinance 2021-714 to codify the 2022 fire tax increase.

Councilman Tony Kovalovsky reported that, until the engineer completes his report to tackle long-standing parking challenges in the Old Forge area of Bath, a “stay of parking enforcement will occur pending the engineer’s report.” Council agreed.

It was also reported the removal of dead trees needs to occur at Keystone Park. Flynn said he is getting estimates.

In her environmental steering committee report, Councilwoman Phyllis Andrews said leaf pickup will begin around Oct. 20 and last until approximately Nov. 20. Residents living north of Route 248 will have a Monday leaf collection. Those residents south of Route 248 will have a Wednesday leaf collection.

Flynn reported council agreed to transition some of the borough’s web-based reporting and tracking software to a cloud-based system that allows for citizen interface. The public would be able to manage zoning applications, track progress and more. They could add comments and get in touch directly with borough staff for updates.

The next Bath Borough Council meeting is 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1. It will be a hybrid meeting, both in person and virtual. For call-in codes, visit bathborough.org.