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KINGSTON &#8212; The Kingston Municipal Council unanimously passed an $8.8 million budget for 2016 with no property tax increase during Monday&#8217;s regular council meeting.The property tax rate will remain at 1.425 mills. A mill amounts to $1 in tax for every $1,000 in assessed property value.The budget, totaling $8,820,699, was celebrated by municipal officials who cited improvements to Kingston&#8217;s playgrounds and streets among the accomplishments of 2015. Officials also anticipate upgrades to traffic, street lines and walkways at Kingston Corners and the completion of repairs to the municipal swimming pool in the coming year.Mayor James Haggerty praised municipal officials for adequately budgeting for necessary services while keeping taxes relatively low. Haggerty pointed out that, of the nine communities that comprise the Wyoming Valley West School District, Kingston has the eighth lowest earned income tax rate at 2.1%.The council unanimously passed an ordinance establishing a registry for abandoned properties in mortgage foreclosure status that have fallen into disrepair. Kingston will create the registry and contract a third party company to pursue the property owners to correct violations.Kingston officials have long complained about complex chains of ownership changes that make it extremely difficult to identify property owners, let alone communicate with them.The municipality has not yet established which company will serve as its liaison to the various banks and other entities that own many abandoned properties in Kingston, but will do so before the ordinance takes effect in January of 2016.Kingston will hold its first public meeting of next year at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By B. Garret RoganFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</shirttailMeta></div>

Kingston Council passes $8.8 million budget with no property tax increase