Trending
LOCK HAVEN -- Just a few months after taking on his role, City Manager Brandon Carter presented Lock Haven City Council with its first glimpse of his work into the 2027 preliminary budget.
At Monday night's meeting, Carter presented council with preliminary numbers regarding the city's revenues and expenses. He told council, though the process is in the very early stages, he doesn't foresee a tax increase for 2027. However, in 2028 there may be the need to take a harder look at expenses.
"Right now I don't foresee raising taxes because I want to see how this budget does," he said.
Depending on how the budget works out throughout the next year, Carter said it's possible he may present some cuts -- such as lowering the amount the city is able to contribute to various organizations within the municipality.
"I'll be honest with you, next year in 2028 I'm going to have to have conversations about cutting contributions," he said. "But it's not going to happen this year. I'd rather wait a full year to get my feet wet, see how we do monthly-wise and then we can make that decision as a team in 2028."
Each year, the city fields a variety of requests for contribution from different non-profits and other organizations, though not all are approved.
Mayor Joel Long said, in conversations with Carter, he'd suggested he keep the 2027 budget as close to status quo as possible due to how quickly the budget season arrived after he was hired.
Carter told council he hopes to work to simplify the budget, to make it easier for council and others to digest the material.
"I look forward to seeing how it develops," Long told Carter.
As the city staff and council continue to work towards a final budget, it will hold weekly meetings during November.
At its meeting next week, Carter said council will review the water and sewer budgets. In subsequent meetings, heads of various departments will review their portions of the budget and answer any questions the council members may have.