Erie Mayor Joe Schember on Wednesday morning unveiled a $106.6 million city general fund budget proposal for 2025 that does not increase property taxes, but calls for residential refuse and sewer fee increases to generate roughly $1.4 million in revenue.
Schember’s spending plan also proposes using roughly $4 million set aside from the Erie Water Works lease prepayment deal of 2020 to balance the budget and avoid a multimillion-dollar structural deficit.
Schember presented his budget proposal to Erie City Council at the panel’s regular meeting on Wednesday morning.
The proposed budget is 3.3% larger than the $103.2 million general fund budget for 2024 that City Council signed off on in December 2023.
City Council has the final say on budget matters and the power to increase or decrease funding proposals. But if it raises a proposal in one area, council must then cut from somewhere else or increase revenue to keep the budget balanced.
City Council is required by state law to pass a budget by Dec. 31.