The Borough of Sharpsville is looking for a way to raise their general budget. To get that extra cash, council members are considering raising property taxes.

“Nobody wants to raise taxes but in the recent years we’ve seen an increase for everything we do,” Kenneth Robertson, Sharpsville’s borough manager said. 

The proposal would bring up taxes by 14.2% which would cost the average property owner another $66 a year.

Most of the budget will need to go towards the police department. Robertson said they’ve added more officers that they’ll need to pay and the price of police cruisers have gone up.

“It makes it tough,” Robertson said. “Just like homeowners residents see at the grocery store, insurance, rent for their homes, we’re seeing those same cost increases … that's affected the borough more particularly this year.”

Council will vote on the proposed budget with the increase in December. Before that vote, Robertson said they are looking into ways to bring the cost down for residents. 

Through grants and eliminating costs in other parts of the borough, Robertson said he is hopeful they can reduce the amount they need by half - bringing the tax increase down as well.

“We need to take care of the town and that costs money,” Robertson said. 

If the increase of 4 mils goes through it would be on top of the Mercer County property tax increase.

The last tax increase for Sharpsville residents was in 2022 before that residents went 13 years without an increase, according to Robertson.