READING — Berks County will not levy a property tax increase for 2026 after two consecutive raises, but the county’s finance chiefs also say upcoming budgets may present more challenges as infrastructure plans and larger projects come to fruition.
The county projects general fund spending costs in 2026 to outpace revenue by about $16 million, the budget team told Berks County commissioners Thursday. However, Berks will cover the shortfall by paying for some infrastructure projects with designated capital reserve and COVID community support funds, interim Chief Financial Officer Laura Jones told Spotlight PA. The total budget will give the county a surplus of around $2.9 million.
The full $672 million budget is a reduction from previous years, in part because both the capital ($18.1 million) and economic development budgets ($29.1 million) are half what they were in 2025.
Upcoming capital budgets, however, likely will be larger as the county progresses to later phases of facility and courthouse improvements, Jones said. The bills for other costly endeavors, such as the new youth detention center or possible new emergency 911 radios, also will come due in 2027 or early 2028.
Capital programs are predominantly for infrastructure updates, but can also be a glimpse into local government’s priorities for the next year. In the first quarter of 2026, the county will take on $25 million in new debt, the first time since 2015. The money will cover $20 million in capital costs from 2025, while the remaining $5 million will be divided between 2026 and 2027. Jones said the delay in issuing the bond helped the finance department capitalize on lower interest municipal rates and avoid instituting another tax increase.
“It's a kind of a balancing act and a juggling game all at all in one,” Jones said.
Berks put itself on a “diet” this year and next, which Jones said helped avoid operational deficits as departments found ways to nix small extra costs without cutting services. County policy requires that at least 60 days of operating budget stay in the general fund reserves (the everyday equivalent of a savings account or rainy day fund), and the goal is not to dip into operational reserve funds without good reason, Bob Patrizio, outgoing longtime CFO, told Spotlight PA.
Looking to future infrastructure projects
The county budget is made up of a mixture of funds: the general fund (almost like an individual person’s checking account) that largely covers day-to-day operations; special revenue funds dedicated to specific services, such as for youth or addiction; and enterprise funds that operate Berks Heim Nursing Home.
There are many ways to approach what are considered “discretionary” responsibilities. The county is not legally required to operate some cultural or recreational services, such as parks or libraries. “But do they have value to the community? 100%” Patrizio said.
County commissioners set the annual budget goals and have historically found that taxpayers are willing to pay a bit more to keep those services running, Patrizio said. However, they do prompt a financial dilemma when considering property tax increases.
Property taxes are a county’s primary funding source for operational costs (many being mandatory, such as running the courthouse and public safety). The county commissioners’ priorities during Patrizio’s time historically have been to keep property tax increases minimal, so budget cuts are prioritized.
“When we get to a point where our operating cost, that bottom line, is going to be a deficit, we recommend a tax increase,” Patrizio said. “Well, we try to cut what we can, but we only have so many discretionary programs.”
Waiting to issue the $25 million bond in the first quarter of 2026 helped save taxpayer money in the long run because of lower interest rates, he said. The county did not want to take the step of borrowing money without knowing the projects would be completed on time, Patrizio said, so the 2026 plans are shovel-ready. Approximately $1.8 million of the bond will go to the new projects.
The largest allocation of capital spending outside of the bond is for a continuation of downtown county campus improvements of $6.3 million, followed by $6.2 million in Griesemer’s Mill and Moselem Springs bridge improvements, and $1.4 million in county facility upgrades (security and tributary wall rebuild).
Berks will also invest $1 million or less in the following improvements: jail ($600,000), Berks Heim ($1 million), agriculture land easements ($1 million), Action Park rebuild and Gruber Wagon Works repainting ($700,000), and miscellaneous equipment upgrades ($900,000).
Full impact of state budget impasse, federal shutdown still unknown
The state government acts largely as the go-between for federal dollars, as well as its own grant programs, so the recently ended four-month impasse kept funds from flowing to local nonprofits, municipalities, and counties. As the debate continued, reports increased across the commonwealth of county furloughs, potential school closings, and service disruptions.
Even without an impasse, localities have to estimate their state funding for the next year. For Berks, this means the county will pass the budget in December with approximately 42% of its revenue without knowing exactly what it will receive until the following July, Patrizio said.
Those state and federal dollars flow primarily to human services, such as children and youth, aging, and health care, among others. Berks avoided staff furloughs or reduction of services this year during the impasse because of the healthy reserve fund balance, Jones said.
That strategy is an important one for counties because of the volatility of higher government budget delays, said Elizabeth Jane Beckett-Camarata, a public administration professor at Penn State.
By floating the reserve funds to cover services, however, Patrizio said the county missed out on collecting interest on those dollars. About 14 years ago, during an impasse, Patrizio said the county threatened not to offer its state fund services and instead pass it back to the state.
“That got everybody's attention because we got some other counties to come on board with us,” he recalled.
How residents can give input on county spending
The commission plans to vote on the budget on Dec. 18. Before then, Berks County residents can provide comments or submit questions about the budget in writing or at any of the weekly Thursday commissioners' meetings.
The Nov. 20 presentation was the public’s primary opportunity to learn about the spending from the county because, unlike the City of Reading, which is currently in the midst of its own weekly budget hearings, the county likely will not hold budget-specific public meetings before the vote.
This process is normal and expected for Pennsylvania counties, but also presents a question of public education, Beckett-Camarata said. Nobody wants to ask a “dumb question,” she said, and putting the educational burden entirely on residents can lead to disenchantment.
The problem is two-fold: Without understanding how a budget impacts daily life, residents are less likely to take an interest in the process. However, trying to educate those same residents takes a significant amount of county time and investment. Essentially, why would residents know to care or understand a hefty government document without that body showing them why it matters?
“The catch is to provide [budget information] at a level of detail so that people can be informed, but not so much that they’re drowning in the details,” Beckett-Camarata said.
Only posting the required information, however, can still leave residents with questions, Beckett-Camarata said.
“[Berks County] presents the information. They present the data,” she told Spotlight PA in an interview before the budget introduction. “They certainly are very efficient in the way they go about conducting their business, but if people have not been provided with budget education previously, they’re not going to be able to jump in to ask good questions.”
She recommended several steps a county could take to bring residents into the process, including publishing simple guidelines explaining the budget documents, providing alternative language access, producing interactive online dashboards, offering public budget workshops, or training residents as budget delegates to help spread information.
Jones told Spotlight PA she wants to explore issuing community surveys — which, separately, was one of Beckett-Camarata’s suggestions as well — in the future to better understand needs.
The county commissioners decide what public engagement steps ultimately are taken, Jones said. Her predecessor, Patrizio, said he believes the commissioners’ regularly scheduled town hall meetings put them in an advantageous position to hear from residents, which guides their budget priorities.
Meetings are 10 a.m. on Thursdays at the services building in downtown Reading. Each meeting will have the opportunity for residents to provide comments on the budget, and residents can call the county commissioners, county communications, or county budget office with questions. The full budget can be found online.