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<p>SWOYERSVILLE &#8212; The borough council this week passed its 2017 budget, which contains no real estate tax increase.</p><p>The tax rate will remain at 1.55 mills. A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed value.</p><p>The budget is balanced with total general fund revenue and expenditures at $1,047,760.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m pleased with this year&#8217;s budget,&#8221; Councilman Joe Olejnick said. &#8220;In these tough economic times, it&#8217;s not an easy task to keep costs and fees down.&#8221;</p><p>Mayor Chris Concert said he was happy that the budget had no tax increase or reduction of services.</p><p>Last year&#8217;s increase of 0.1 percent, which was directed at sustaining the borough&#8217;s two fire department, has served the borough well, Concert said. &#8220;It was a good decision,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It helped the fire companies and prevented the borough from having to spend an increasing amount on fire-protection services.&#8221;</p><p>Concert&#8217;s lingering concern, however, is the borough&#8217;s infrastructure.</p><p>The borough has been unable to secure funding for improvement of several streets. Concert is hoping to find money for those improvements. &#8220;That&#8217;s going to be my goal for 2017,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The mayor indicated that grants, including state gaming grants, for street paving have been difficult to obtain.</p><p>&#8220;It seems that it&#8217;s easier to obtain grants that will benefit several communities,&#8221; he said, referring to receipt of a $230,000 Local Share Account grant that will be used to refurbish Roosevelt Park.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>ggibbons@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

No tax increase in Swoyersville budget