At the Council meeting held on Monday, June 8th the final Municipal Budget was presented for its public hearing and adoption. Manville's CFO Mike Pitts was also present to answer any questions from residents.

The Council agreed to open the public portion on the budget and the Mayor asked anyone from the public wishing to comment to come forward.

Two residents rose to speak.

The first asked "What was the approximate percentage increase in the health benefits for the employees?" CFO Pitts responded, "It was just over 20%, at about $260,000." The resident continued, "What's the percentage of the budget that the DPW and police department cover? Both their salary, wages and O&E. Salary and wages I know aren't negotiable." CFO Pitts replied "So police department is about 34.5%, and public works was 18.4%."

Then asked, "Over almost 53% of the budget was within those two categories without much room for movement. Is that accurate to say?" to which CFO Pitts responded "That's correct."

"I know it was a difficult budget for everybody to have to go through, and do the hard work, but I just wanted to recollect with people's minds and put it out that there wasn't a lot of wiggle room for the Council to be able to do with a large percentage being fixed costs and things beyond their control." The resident stated.

A second resident came up and asked, "So just for transparency purposes, the overall increase is 8% to the taxpayer?" CFO Pitts responded, "The tax levy, yes," and the resident continued "My other question is about the bonds that have not been used or issued yet for the firetruck. So would that have helped?"

CFO Pitts responded, "So notes have been issued for the firetruck within the last year."

"So that's the note figure interest?" asked the resident.

"Correct."

"A new note was issued?"

"Yeah, so notes are rollover year over year so and this year we'll decide if we want to roll that note over, go to long-term financing, or pay some of the bill with some capital money," CFO Pitts responded.

Based on the budget presentation (which we reported on here), the tax levy for the municipal side of property tax bills will increase $827,668. The 2026 municipal tax levy is $11,088,291. In 2025, the levy was $10,260,623. This is a levy increase of roughly 8%. The final tax rate on the overall property tax bill has not yet been announced.

It was then time for Council to vote. Council President Joseph Lukac voted no, with the remaining Councilmembers all voting yes. At the time of his vote, Council President Lukac did not provide a reason for his no vote.

When the public portion of the main council meeting opened, a resident rose to ask about Council President Lukac's no vote on the budget, and why wasn’t the vote to pass the budget unanimous.

"I couldn't help but notice that it wasn't a unanimous vote, so I was hoping to understand better if there were any specific objections, or amendments, or alternate budgets presented that would maintain Borough services without, I mean, making significant cuts within Borough Hall. Was there any alternative presented that would explain?"

The Mayor stated that "There was only one no vote, and I'll let Council President Lukac speak for himself as to why he voted no." Council President Lukac's response is below:

"Um, I do appreciate the work that went into this budget. I know I've done it before with numerous councils it's a lot of hard work. The department heads are golden. Um, but this didn't come out of nowhere, this situation, and for years, I've spoken with our professionals, and we've recommended certain increases that were either ignored or pushed, kicked down the road."

"And I took those warnings seriously every single time. And some people didn't. They're not. Some of them aren't here anymore. Most of them aren't here anymore. And at the same time, we've seen, you know, our budgets with tax increases kept well below the rate of inflation over time. And that was the one warning that our professionals and myself in the past had warned about, that we're not keeping up with inflationary, you know, inflation rising every year."

"And to me, I ran for this office with one of my campaign goals, was not to kick the can down the road. And I'm not going to vote for something that is the end result of that process, when I was against it the entire time, it's against my my beliefs. And it's against what I've said in the past."

The resident responded: "I'm just a bit confused. I agree with you here and school board, we've been below inflation. We probably should've been raising it a little more over the years. But with this current budget, what specifically could have been done differently that would get a unanimous council?"

"I.. I.. would.. this is the whole reason why I voted no," responded Council President Lukac.

Mayor Onderko began to comment. He discussed how when the water utility sold, they had used the proceeds of $4.9 million over 4 to 5 years into the General Fund to keep taxes lower and it was spent, without paying down debt as there were no regulations. In regard to the sewer sale, $2.9 million of the sewer sale is set aside in reserve, and the Mayor inquired with the CFO to see how that money was being invested.

The resident asked Mayor Onderko if he had any involvement in the budget process, which he responded that he did not have input, but did make requests for two permanent radar signs, and a request for 6 speed humps to help with speeding issues in town.

"From a public's perspective, it seems like it was done appropriately," the resident commented.

Mayor Onderko then commented on insurance increases, particularly healthcare, and how it affected the budget. Healthcare increases are outside of Borough control. He also commented how the tax levy increase was 2% for 10 straight years and stated to look at other towns within the County to see if that is possible from a historic standpoint.

Mayor Onderko concluded his budget remarks in regular public portion by joking: "I could be honest with you, there's no mayor vehicle in this budget, ok?"

A review of Council President Lukac's service on the Manville Borough Council shows that he served on the Finance Committee (the body responsible for working on the municipal budget) in 2019 and again in 2023. This information was confirmed by viewing the annual Reorganization Meeting agendas publicly available on the Borough's website.