Allentown budget saga ends as the clock strikes midnight
Mayor was expected to vote council’s plan 1 minute before deadline.
Wondering whether Allentown’s 2019 budget — containing the city’s first broad tax increase in more than a decade — is now law?
Check themorningcall.com to find out. The action occurred after The Morning Call’s print deadline.
To recap: Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell proposed a spending plan with a 1.5-mill property tax increase. City Council shaved it to 1.25 mills.
Both sides were expected to be at City Hall late Saturday night to settle things.
If all went as planned, O’Connell was to veto council’s amended budget at 11:59 p.m., then see whether council could override that veto before a midnight deadline.
Allentown’s charter requires the city’s budget to be adopted by Dec. 15.
Council planned cuts to overtime and staffing as well as reserves to balance the budget with less revenue than the mayor sought. The difference between the plans amounted to $42 for the owner of a home valued at $150,000 with $20,000 in land value.