New Kensington's proposed budget includes no tax increase

New Kensington Council has approved a preliminary budget for next year that includes no increase in property taxes.

Council voted 4-1 Monday to approve the first reading of next year’s $8.16 million budget, up from $8.12 million this year. The property tax rate would remain unchanged at 32.03 mills.

After voting against the budget, Councilman Tim DiMaio said he objected to $115,000 being “slashed” from public works, including a reduction in money for road salt.

Just because last winter was mild doesn’t mean this winter won’t be bad, he said. He also said the city struggles with street paving and has a problem with its streets, which it gets “beat up over” every year.

“We do what we can with what we got,” he said. “We haven’t gotten any block grant money for numerous years.”

Councilman Todd Mentecki defended the reduction in public works spending.

“We do have a lot of salt left over from last year to supplement going into this year,” Mentecki said.

Council will vote to adopt the budget when it meets Dec. 31.