2025 Wage Increases and Budget Insights Discussed During Lock Haven Council Meeting

By Emily Wright

LOCK HAVEN— The Lock Haven City Council has approved a modest salary increase for non-union city employees for the upcoming year. This decision, formalized in Ordinance No. 2024-05, was passed after its second reading at Monday night’s meeting. The ordinance establishes a 1.4% pay raise for regular non-union city employees, effective January 1, 2025.

The pay adjustment affects various city positions, including clerks, technicians, foremen, fire relief drivers, the Chief of Police, and more. For example, the City Manager’s salary will increase from $85,816.04 to $87,017.47, and the full-time fire relief driver’s pay will increase from $47,006.04 to $47,664.13.

This ordinance does not apply to members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Council 86, or the Lock Haven Police Officers Association.

Two positions, the temporary Department of Public Works (DPW) Labor and Part-Time Fire Relief Driver, will see a 13.77% wage hike, raising their hourly rate from $13.18 to $15.00, signaling the city’s effort to retain and attract these essential part-time roles.

The Lock Haven Police Department will see a 4% salary increase for various ranks, reflecting the city’s commitment to supporting its law enforcement personnel. The Chief of Police, for example, will receive a wage increase from $79,213.12 to $82,381.64.

Mayor Long expressed concern about the gap between higher and lower-paid city employees and emphasized that they deserve raises. On a motion made by Council Member Barbara Masorti, seconded by Council Member Tami Brannan, and carried unanimously, the ordinance was unanimously approved.

In other financial news, November is budget season for the City of Lock Haven, and during Monday night’s meeting, City Manager Greg Wilson provided an overview of the budget process and timeline.

The full budget book will be provided to council members this week and will also be made available online by visiting https://lockhavenpa.gov/. The budget calendar includes discussions on specific topics over the next few weeks, including:
November 25, 2024 – Streets, stormwater, public property, levy, parks, and water
December 2, 2024 – Airport and sewer, plus any other issues
December 9, 2024 – Public Safety (Police, fire, code)
December 16, 2024 – Tentative budget adoption date

Wilson explained that the budget is being presented two days earlier than last year, which makes a significant difference given upcoming events such as the workers’ compensation rate being set and a Public Utilities Commission (PUC) mediation.

Wilson also discussed some key budget impacts during the meeting. The sewer fund is expected to have a positive balance for the first time since 2014 due to changes in how treatment and collection obligations are accounted for. He reported that the airport is currently projected to have more expenditures than revenues, at approximately $52,000.

The general fund is not slated for a tax increase, but the city is working towards a single real estate tax rate. Wilson noted that currently, the city taxes land very heavily, while improvements on the land are taxed at a much lower rate. He shared that the plan is to adjust the land millage rate down from 0.029 to 0.02, while increasing the improvement millage rate from 0.079 to 0.098. This would still bring in $3,208,352 in real estate taxes, which is $475 less than this year.

“The way the city taxes its real estate is the way that one of only 16 in the Commonwealth’s 2,800 collect real estate tax, so you can understand it’s very confusing for a lot of people that this particular way of taxation can make people not understand what’s really being collected because they can’t compare the city’s millage rate to Woodward’s or Castanea’s,” Wilson explained. “The city taxes land very heavily, so that’s the bulk of the revenue that comes in from real estate. Your improvement on that land, whether it’s a parking lot or it’s a hotel, is taxed very slightly, and so as a general rule, having measured this out and studied this many times, every 250 feet in the city is worth the same amount of money,” he said.

Wilson explained that the city is working towards a single real estate tax rate rather than the current split between land and improvements. “When you make those adjustments where you’re going to adjust land and adjust improvement, about a third of the people are going to see their tax bill go up, a third will see it go down, and a third won’t really notice much of a change,” he said. “However, the exact same total dollar amount comes into the city, so at face value, the city’s tax would collect $3.2 million each year, so using the current tax millage, the city at face, and I say that at face, would be $3.2 million, and the reality is, the city gets about $2.7 million because 75% of the city pays in discount.”

Wilson noted that the City Council made a decision a few years ago to permit residents to make four payments to meet their real estate tax obligations, which has shown a higher tax collection rate each year.