Taxes
Tax Collector - Real Estate Taxes
Brenda Hill
401 Lincoln Way East
Chambersburg, PA 17201
(717) 263-6565
Franklin County Area Tax Bureau - Earned Income Taxes/Local Services Tax
306 North 2nd Street
Chambersburg, PA 17201
(717) 263-5141
2026 Budget
Chambersburg has the largest operating budget of any Borough in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 2023, the latest year with records, several municipalities failed to report their fiscal status to the State, and the impacts of the spending from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) skewed the results for those that did. However in 2023, Chambersburg had the 10th largest budget of any municipality, and had the largest Borough budget statewide.
Obviously, Chambersburg’s budget size is beause of its utilities and additional employees. Chambersburg is considerably larger and more complex than Carlisle, Waynesboro, Shippensburg, or Gettysburg.
Chambersburg Borough has the most complex budget in Pennsylvania. We are unlike every other town, including big cities. Separated from the other operations of the Borough, our utility financial transactions are in over a dozen separate funds (accounts). Our unique size is due to our expansive utility operations (unmatched in Pennsylvania) and because of our complex utility support operations (internal service funds). To account properly for expenses, we use cost-based accounting. Like a law firm or medical practice, many employees bill their time and equipment to the various functions upon which they are working. This includes money spent between the separate funds; many transactions are to cover expenses, back and forth between accounts, and thousands of internal transactions. This concept makes Chambersburg a unique government organization, especially in the Commonwealth.
Chambersburg is one of 35 Boroughs in Pennsylvania to operate a non-profit public power electric utility. Chambersburg is the largest municipal electric utility in the State, twice as large as the second largest, Ephrata, Lancaster County; and the only one to operate multiple generation stations. Chambersburg is one of two municipalities in Pennsylvania to operate a non-profit public natural gas utility. The other is Philadelphia, which does not operate an electric utility. Chambersburg is one of around 2,000 communities to have its own electric system and one of 1,000 communities to run a natural gas system, but one of only about 100 in the U.S. to operate both systems, out of 89,000 local government units. In addition, Chambersburg operates a regional water system and a regional sanitary sewer system; not through an independent authority or an intermunicipal board, but under Town Council oversight directly. Further, Chambersburg operates a sanitation utility, a traffic utility, an aquatic center, and a storm sewer utility. The Storm Sewer Utility was one of the first such storm sewer utilities to form under the federal mandate to regulate stormwater through the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program.
Almost all employees of the Borough, and most of the equipment of the Borough, is owned and operated by our utility departments (Electric, Natural Gas, Water, Wastewater, Storm Sewer, and Sanitation utilities) and our utility support departments (engineering, motor equipment, and administrative services). Borough tax revenue does not support any utility operations, personnel, or equipment. Further, as the budget document reveals, the Borough’s utility rates are very reasonable.
Residents inside the Borough who have both Chambersburg electric and gas service can save as much as $2,000 per year when compared to similar residential customers outside the Borough.
The key to Chambersburg’s low cost-of-living is we keep every home and business with very low-cost utilities; which in turn permits them to pay for additional expenses, including taxes for police, fire, and EMS. We call this, “the secret sauce,” and no other town in Pennsylvania can accomplish this goal.
No real estate tax increase in 2026 – very few utility-rate increases
In summary, 2026 is going to be another year for the Borough of Chambersburg without a real estate tax increase. In most years, the Borough does not adopt an increase in taxes. When it happens, it is almost exclusively as a result of Police and Fire expenses increasing; or, as a result of a multi-generational community benefit project. We have a number of extremely important projects in-the-works. In addition, there are some very significant challenges in the 2026 budget including a new non-bargaining compensation plan to fairly pay our administrative, management, technical, and professional employees, and the continuing construction of the new Public Works Campus. Inflation was very hard to budget for this year and we plan to spend down some of our capital reserves for very needed capital purchases including in the utilities, at the Recreation Department, the Aquatic Center, in the warehouse, and the Limekiln Road bridge replacement project. This was likely the most challenging budget of my career.
The 2026 budget includes no increase in the Police Tax, no change in the Fire Tax (and none is permitted under State law), no increase in the three bond taxes(the Recreation Bond, the Police Station Bond, and the Public Works Campus Bond), and very few increases in utility rates. However, one can easily see that there are a number of impending issues on the horizon. We can estimate now where the Borough of Chambersburg finances will be in 2027, and I would not predict that this year, without many increases in taxes and rates is a long-term strategy for funding, especially with critical and challenging funding issues remaining for the Police Department, the Fire Department, and with respect to EMS (emergency medical services).
The 2026 budget does include an increase in the ready-to-serve Ambulance Fee from $11 per month per water service connection to $12.50 per month per water service connection. The “ready-to-serve” ambulance fee program is a mandatory monthly charge on utility bills for Chambersburg residents to fund the borough's emergency medical services. The program was created to address the growing financial crisis faced by ambulance services due to unpaid fees from patients on Medicare and Medicaid.
We are very disappointed that the Federal money earmarked for the Southgate Redevelopment neighborhood infrastructure project was held up under administrative review for the entire 2025 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the neighborhood has begun to show progress with the opening of the Keystone Rural Health community medical facility at Southgate. Also, the 2026 budget marks the final steps for a new Public Works Campus off Wayne Avenue, where construction began in 2025 and ends by the end of 2026. Replacing the over-Century-old, outdated, and too-small Borough Garage on Loudon Street will happen by the beginning of 2027.
Chambersburg has a long-term issue funding police, fire, and EMS services on such a small geographic tax base and with some very impactful willful disregard of these challenges. Our neighbors have chosen a completely different system of public safety than the Borough. Instead, relying on free Pennsylvania State Police services and depleted volunteer firefighting to avoid the costs associated with public safety. Public safety and emergency services is our biggest investment.
The 2026 budget is the last year that the Borough of Chambersburg can keep this funding solution in place without something having to change. By 2027, the Town Council may need to make some difficult decisions to keep adequate funding for Police, Fire, and EMS services. While the 2026 budget has no tax increase and few utility-rate increases, it does establish a forewarning for 2027.
Our outstanding utility rates do more than help taxpayers pay for police, fire, and EMS. Chambersburg Borough government and our utilities are the catalyst for macro-economic expansion throughout Franklin County. More than the County Seat, Chambersburg drives costs for healthcare, banking, County-government, and the regional school district. By providing outstanding services and utilities to other institutions, Chambersburg is helping their bottom-line. We help other local entities afford their employees, their growth, controlling their expenses, and helping the greater Chambersburg area’s regional economy, by positively influencing so much economic activity.
Chambersburg real estate taxes remain earmarked only for police and fire operations. Real estate taxes are not the source of funding for any other department or employee. In fact, the three bond taxes now are not changing in 2026:
These three bond taxes are similar to mortgages. Therefore, one can reliably say, “No real estate tax will pay for any “operation” of the Borough of Chambersburg other than police and fire.” It is important to acknowledge that real estate taxes are not used in support of most departments’ operations or employees; not parks or street maintenance or the Borough administration, are paid by using real estate taxes. The only use of these taxes are police and fire, and to pay off the Recreation Bond, the Police Station Bond(s), and the Public Works Campus Bond. This has always been our financial plan for the Borough’s use of taxes. These three mortgages pay for no operations, no employees, no operating expenses.
Further, Chambersburg receives no sales taxes, no liquor taxes, no business taxes, nor hotel taxes. These types of taxes are not an option under State law. In other states, these other types of taxes are the foundation to the fiscal health of local government. In Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth denies them as an option to communities like Chambersburg. Town Council has a toolbox with one tool inside (real estate taxes) and it is a dull and poorly honed tool, but that is the only tool given to them by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In most years, Chambersburg has not raised the real estate tax rate. Other entities often raise taxes that impact our taxpayers. Entities such as Franklin County or the Chambersburg Area School District can raise taxes and that sometimes leads to confusion. When the Borough raises the real estate tax rate, it is generally to fund police and fire services. In 2018, a tax was approved to pay off the 2016 Recreation Bond. In 2022, a tax was approved to pay off the 2022 Police Station Bond(s). In 2025, a tax was approved to pay off the Public Works Campus project. All these taxes are unchanged in 2026.
There is no real estate tax increase planned for 2026. There is no Act 511 tax increase and none is permitted under State law.
Recall, Chambersburg is unique in our commitment to professional public safety and emergency services. That alone is a big difference between Chambersburg and other towns. That and the ability to control utility rates for the benefit of all, and positively influence the local economy.
In 2020, Town Council repealed the Ambulance Tax. This was in conjunction with the establishment of a new ready-to-serve mandatory Ambulance Fee on all water utility invoices (because water fees are attributed to the property owner or owner’s designee). A Police or Fire subscription fee is specifically prohibited. However, emergency medical services are different. This year there will be a slight increase to the monthly Ambulance Fee which appears on utility bills. The surcharge, unlike a real estate tax, is broad-based. All water customers of the Borough will continue to pay this flat fee regardless of tax-exempt status.
The Ambulance Fee will be recommended to go from $11.00 per month per water service connection to $12.50 per month per water service connection per residential or commercial unit. This fee supports the EMS service, but it is clearly not a tax because tax-exempt property owners pay it on their monthly water bills.
With no other options available to Town Council beyond property tax increases, and with 23% of the town’s assessed property value being exempt from paying the Police and Fire real estate tax, owners of taxable properties must bear the full burden of paying for public safety services. Proportionately, this burden falls most heavily on those least able to afford paying for the services: the elderly and those on fixed incomes who own real estate. Whereas, 100% of water customers pay a fee placed on utility invoices. If there was a more broad-based tax available (i.e., a sales tax), that might be a more appropriate tax to fund an emergency service such as our struggling ambulance service. However, that is not a possibility under State law.
The 2016 Recreation Bond paid for capital investment in a number of Recreation Department facilities including new playgrounds, tennis courts, a new roof and windows on the Recreation Center, and a new state-of-the-art Aquatic Center. To fund the bond, which is a form of debt like a mortgage, Council at the time imposed a special Recreation Bond Tax on all property owners who are not exempt from real estate taxes. The resulting assets built from the bond were added as community-owned assets to the Borough’s balance sheet.
This use of debt to build asset value for the community is a corporate way of funding improvements. Further, dedicating a tax to pay it off is not dissimilar to when a homeowner takes out a mortgage. In 2022, the Borough refinanced this debt to a lower interest rate. As a result, the annual debt payments dropped and a small tax decrease was possible for the Recreation Bond Tax.
In 2021, Town Council approved a new bond (actually two companion bonds) associated with the renovation of the Borough’s 1971/1972 Police Station on S. Second Street. This new debt was used exclusively for that project, for the replacement of the roof on the old part of City Hall (the 1930s addition) and the roof/historic clock tower on the original part of City Hall (the Market House). Further, a new dedicated tax was established by the 2022 budget to pay off that bond. Construction of the renovated and expanded Police Station (as well as the clock tower renovation) was completed and the Police Department returned home in 2023. The ribbon cutting event was on September 20, 2023.
In 2025, Town Council approved a new bond (actually the first of two bonds) associated with the construction of the Public Works Campus. This transformational project for the neighborhood is now well underway. The Chambersburg Public Works Department purchased the old abandoned cold storage building on S. Fourth Street, the Wagner Supply Depot next door, and several homes on Wayne Avenue. These derelict and blighted structures were demolished in demolished in 2023. Most recall the house with the endless yard sale. The land was incorporated into the new site of the Borough’s future public works facility. The Federal ARPA grant provided sufficient funding to secure some of the building, plan for and help pay some of the demolition and the clearing of the site.
Former Buildings Demolished
Ground was broken on this important facility in early 2025. The new facility, a Public Works Campus, will be home to the Highway Department, Engineering Department, Sanitation Department, Motor Equipment maintenance, and the water and wastewater maintenance crew. It's well needed, as the previous public works facility was built in 1921, over 100 years ago.
In addition to Federal grant money, which was designated from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for this project, Council has approved using the Borough utilities through their motor equipment rentals, and the Borough taxpayers together will fund this community revitalization development to modernize Borough operations and relocate disparate departments into one modern energy-efficient facility for generations to come.
As of now, the current cost to the average single-family homeowner in Chambersburg is $18 per year in real estate taxes or about the cost of one large pizza.
This project, just like the previous Recreation Capital Improvements Project and the Police Station Renovation and Expansion Project, will be funded in-part by a dedicated real estate tax. Unlike those other projects, the dedicated real estate tax will not pay all of the cost of the debt. In fact, the tax levied is calculated to only cover approximately 24% of the annual cost of the debt. This is because 76% of the cost of the Public Works Campus project is being funded by the various Borough utility operations. Only that portion of the cost attributable to General Fund or governmental operations (i.e., police, fire, EMS, highway, recreation, community development, etc.) is being paid for by the dedicated real estate tax. The balance is being paid for by interfund transfers from the various utilities.
In total, the Borough budget assigns 5½-mil of real estate taxes for these three bonds.
In our area, Chambersburg is the only municipality with a full service, round the clock, local police department. It is a professional and successful law enforcement organization. In 2025, Town Council appointed a new Police Chief, Meredith Dominick; a highly qualified law enforcement professional. She has brought her own vision and standards to the organization. Also in 2025, Council supplemented the Police Department leadership by promoting a second Police Sergeant to Police Lieutenant and backfilling many of the supervisory and organizational needs in the Police Department staff.
It remains very expensive to operate a high performing police department, but unlike our neighbors who have chosen to rely on the free Pennsylvania State Police, the Chambersburg Police Department plays a much more proactive role in public safety within the corporate boundaries of the Borough.
Chambersburg remains an incredibly safe community with very low crime rates, despite perceptions otherwise. There is no doubt that 2025 has been a challenging year for the Police. Chambersburg Police Chief Dominick reported a multi-month “unprecedented” crime spree that involved 25 violent crimes, which her department successfully investigated and closed. Dominick stated that most of the perpetrators were non-residents, an issue she linked to the borough's transient nature. In October 2025, Dominick told Town Council that non-residents were responsible for most of the crime in the area. She noted that these individuals are often arrested as a result. With so many arrests, confidence in the police has grown.
Town Council has confronted the funding and staffing at the Police Department head-on. First, this year, Council chose to raise the 2025 Police Tax and to expand the police force, which had not expanded in size in over a decade despite the fact that the community has become more increasingly complex. In addition to filling vacancies, the Police Department added three (3) additional police officers, a significant percentage increase.
Despite this move, the department is still down four (4) officers as others have chosen to retire. These four positions are all fully funded, and new hires are anticipated in time for the January 2026 Police Academy.
In this 2026 budget, the Police Department is funding another expansion as a result of needs. The 2026 budget contains sufficient funding to add a Corporal to the detectives’ unit, known as the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). This will allow the detectives to stay on top of activities on social media and in the community. In return, a probationary police officer, beyond the four that are about to be hired, will be added later in the year in 2026. By the end of 2026, the Chambersburg Police Department will be larger than it has ever been before, with a total complement of 42 sworn officers (including the Chief and the two Lieutenants), an increase of 24% in the last few years.
The amount of funding to carry this full complement and to pay the rising cost of equipment, vehicles, training, technology, and reasonable wage increases is clearly far beyond the ability of the Borough of Chambersburg. With no tax increase planned for 2026, the Police Department will have barely sufficient funding to make it through the year. The future is hard to imagine with a State-imposed Police Tax cap of 30-mil and our County’s choice to keep the value of each mil at 1961 levels.
It is envisioned that the Police Tax will hit its annual maximum in 2027 or 2028. At that point, just as with the Fire Department, it is hard to conceive of a manner to keep funding these critical public safety and emergency services.
Until 2014, 100% of the real estate taxes collected by the Borough were used exclusively to support the Chambersburg Police Department. In 2014, a small share was added to support the Chambersburg Fire Department. While the Police Tax rate grew in 2025, this remains the sole operational use of real estate taxes. Perhaps this explains why Greene, Guilford, Letterkenny, and Antrim townships have no local real estate tax. In 2022, the separate Police Station Bond Tax was added. This special bond tax does not cover any of the cost of the operation of the Police Department. All of the money collected by the bond tax goes to pay for the annual debt payments for the renovation and expansion of the Borough Police Station, which reopened on S. Second Street in 2023. So while this bond tax is another tax to be paid by the taxpayers, it is not associated with any public safety services.
The Borough collects about 90% of funds needed from the Police Tax to pay for the cost of operating the Police Department. Every dollar of designated revenue from the Police Tax is used wisely by the Police Department. However, the State has imposed a cap on Police Tax Statewide and the value of each mil is controlled by Franklin County.
Over the last two decades the Police Tax has risen 58.8% or about 2.9% per year on average.
In most towns the Police Tax is called, the General Levy, but in Chambersburg it is all dedicated to the Police Department operating expenses so we call it the Police Tax.
In 2026, it is estimated that the Chambersburg Police Department will cost more than all the funding sources dedicated to keep it operating. The Police Department will cost $658,968 more but will continue to function by drawing resources from other General Fund departments. This operating deficit includes shifting police pension subsidies from utility departments to help the Police Department as well as the estimated yield of 27-mil of Police Tax.
As you know, when the Police Department cannot cover its own expenses, it is permitted to draw resources from the balance of the General Fund, within which it is commingled, to make sure it continues to operate. This is not a sustainable long-term strategy.
Increasing costs for the Police Department include wages (both a cost-of-living increase and one more employee), associated benefits, pension contributions, health insurance, vehicle expenses (additional vehicle maintenance costs and additional vehicles), information technology expenses, and an increase in Police Liability insurance premiums. Together, the department’s expenses grew $510,548 or by 7.2%.
While a Police Tax increase maybe advisable, I am suggesting a delay until at least 2027. Ultimately, the 30-mil Police Tax cap and the decision of the County to purposely not raise the value of each mil, is going to lead to some tough choices in 2027 or soon beyond.
In general, if the Police Department runs a deficit as it is anticipated to do so in 2026, it is commingled with all the revenue and expenditures in the General Fund. The General Fund miscellaneous revenue must cover it as it does with all the General Fund departments including Fire, EMS, the Recreation Department, Land Use & Community Development, and general highway, which are all mixed together pursuant to the State recommended chart of accounts, but for now, those departments do not have the ability to raise much more revenue, or any revenue at all, whereas the Police have the Police Tax.
It is important to place the anticipated Police Tax deficit for the Police Department of $658,968 into context.
Please keep in mind that we are operating the Police Department with very little margin for error. Unforeseen costs such as a major detective caseload, a major public safety event, additional unforeseen overtime, additional training, or adding more employees in advance of other future retirements, can easily throw the Police Department budget into a more unstable place.
In 2025, in agreement with the IAFF, the Borough increased the number of paid firefighters to the highest level in the history of the Borough. As of today, there are 31 paid firefighters plus two Fire Chiefs (and one volunteer Fire Chief). The Borough agreed to carry 28 paid firefighters in the soon expiring collective bargaining agreement. There are seven probationary firefighters at the Fire Academy (making 31 total) and we anticipate one to three senior members of the department will retire in 2026 (making about 28 total). There is no doubt that 31 firefighters will add to the public safety in the community.
The amount of funding to carry this full complement and to pay the rising cost of equipment, vehicles, training, technology, and reasonable wage increases is clearly far beyond the ability of the Borough of Chambersburg. With no tax increase planned for 2026, the Fire Department will have barely sufficient funding to make it through the year. The future is hard to imagine with a State-imposed Fire Tax cap of 3-mil and our County’s choice to keep the value of each mil at 1961 levels. The 2026 budget raises the Ambulance Fee, a ready-to-serve fee on water service accounts, to its maximum level of $12.50 per month per water service. So for now, raising that fee higher is also not feasible.
Finally, the Local Services Tax revenue (one of those Act 511 taxes) is set at State maximum, and all the revenue from Fire Department’s services, including Ambulance patient fees, is already dedicated to paying for the Fire Department and EMS operational costs. It may be right to say that, “the well has run dry.”
It is envisioned that the Borough will run out of available funding options by the end of 2026. In fact, if more than 2.5% wage increases are suggested by the fire union or imposed in Act 111 Interest Arbitration, the Borough may be out of funding options today. Just as with the Police Department, it is hard to conceive of a way to keep funding these critical public safety and emergency services.
There is no conceivable way to fund future expense increases in the Fire Department and EMS system. Unlike the Police Department which still has room in the growth of the Police Tax, the Fire Department has few, if any, options. When we say that the Fire Department is operating at a deficit, it means it is drawing resources from other General Fund departments so that it can continue to function adequately. This is not an ideal scenario. In the future, without a County-wide reassessment or a rise in the State tax caps, it is likely that other General Fund departments will need to begin raising their own real estate taxes (i.e., the Recreation Department or the Highway Department), which thereby allows more resources to be shifted, within the General Fund, to funding the Fire Department.
The Borough is once again at a financial crossroads with respect to funding the Fire Department and its associated basic-lifesaving ambulance service. The cost of these operations, coupled with the inability to collect all ambulance use-fees incurred and a state-imposed cap on the Fire Tax, has left the Borough in a precarious fiscal position. Meanwhile, the cost of Fire Department operations continues to rise.
There is no proposed change in the Fire Tax for 2026 because an increase is not possible. State law places a limit on the Borough at a very low tax rate for the purpose of paying for the Fire Department. Not that we like taxes, but the 1965 State law makes no sense. The Borough is prohibited from levying more than 3-mil (the 2026 equivalent of about $661,610) in Fire Tax, but most of it must be used for apparatus/truck expenses and not for firefighters’ wages and benefits. Further, the Borough is prohibited from using more than 1-mil (up to a maximum of about $215,800) for all the firefighter wages and benefits. Clearly, the State of Pennsylvania wants to inhibit the ability of any borough from having a paid professional firefighting force.
In Chambersburg, firefighter wages and benefits cost the Borough as much as $5 million per year. Obviously, this artificial limit in place since 1965 does not envision a mostly paid and experienced professional Fire Department, as we have here in Chambersburg.
The long-term funding issue of the Fire Department is not identical to the issue of the Police Department. The main difference is that the Fire Department brings in significant revenue. Specifically, the Fire Department is a regional provider of Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance service inside the Borough and in parts of the surrounding townships. The Borough only collects 50% of ambulance invoices that are billed (and mostly from private insurance), those payments are significant. In addition, the Fire Department acts as the Borough’s Fire Code safety inspection service. Done on a tri-annual basis for most commercial businesses (and annual basis for some types of businesses), this service results in fewer fires or loss of life, and provides some income for the Fire Department. While we would like to expand the EMS operations to other parts of the County, that would not be practical unless their municipalities provide a subsidy equal to the ready-to-serve Ambulance Fee, a service fee on water services, to help pay for that expansion.
While the revenue from the ambulance service and the Fire Code safety inspections is not enough to pay for the cost of operating the Fire Department, this and the Fire Tax combined are counted as a very respectable effort to close the gap in costs. The balance of the Fire Department operating expenses is closed by undesignated General Fund revenue above and beyond the Fire Tax. Every dollar of undesignated revenue used to close the gap between these revenues and the Fire Department budget is one less dollar that can be used for parks or recreation, highways or streets, or other functions such as economic development or new initiatives in community development.
The cost of operating the Fire Department will rise significantly in 2026, but to what extent is somewhat unknown, as we have no labor agreement. In addition, higher costs associated with the replacement schedule for fire apparatus is a growing issue as we put aside money for future purchases. Vehicles for the Fire Department are rising exponentially in cost. This, plus the growing write-off for Medicaid/Medicare patients served by the Fire Department’s ambulance service, are causing strain on department finances.
In 2026, it is estimated that the Fire Department and EMS will cost $1,344,815 more to operate than the revenues collected. This includes shifting fire pension subsidies from utility departments to help the Fire Department as well as the estimated yield of ½-mil of Fire Tax being used for operations. There is no way permitted to raise the Fire Tax (approx. 6.2-mil more) to cover this deficit.
The Borough uses the Ambulance Fee to help cover the EMS portion of the deficit. The Ambulance Fee should generate $1.74 million in 2026, which is already accounted for in the deficit. If the Ambulance Fee was used to cover the whole deficit, it would be set to $21.84 per month instead of the recommended $12.50 per month as is proposed for 2026. The proposed Ambulance Fee is made necessary by the allowance for uncollectable ambulance receipts as a result of Medicaid/Medicare federal rules.
In addition to the Ambulance Fee, if the Fire Department runs a deficit, it is commingled with all the revenue and expenditures in the General Fund. The General Fund miscellaneous revenue must cover it as it does with all the General Fund departments including the Police Department, the Recreation Department, Land Use & Community Development, and general highway, which are all mixed together pursuant to the State recommended chart of accounts.
In addition, the future of EMS throughout Pennsylvania is in a state of flux. As a result, we do not see any reason to change EMS services right now rather than give the process another year to unfold. Many believe the entire EMS system is on the verge of catastrophic failure. More concerning than our Fire Department’s fiscal distress, or the challenges in regularly operating a second ambulance, is the abject failure of volunteer ambulance companies (and some paid companies) to find employees/volunteers to staff ambulances and answer life-saving calls. We often wonder if residents and businesses in the townships are aware how close the system is to failure. If such a prophecy comes to fruition, Chambersburg would remain in a strong and safe position. As a result of our commitment to professionalism, our use of firefighter personnel, and our willingness to use taxes and fees to supplement EMS operations, our community and our citizens are somewhat insulated from, what may turn out to be, a breakdown in emergency medical operations regionally or statewide.
The total assessed value of taxable real estate inside the Borough for 2026 is estimated to be $219,004,730, up slightly from last year’s assessed value of $215,971,240. Therefore, the cash value of 1-mil would equal $219,005. However, when factoring in our average collection rate for any given year, we should expect that same mil to yield $214,625. This difference is a result of the average amount of taxes remitted on time, annually, versus the total that is levied. However, some old outstanding tax liens from previous years may pay their debts in 2026.
Therefore, for budget purposes, 1-mil is equal to approximately $218,786 in cash. The value of a mil is therefore not precise.
It is difficult to explain how unique and different Chambersburg is from every other municipal organization. We are lucky to have outstanding employees, a supportive and dynamic community, and a defined mission to provide the most services at the lowest cost to our citizens and businesses. We have weathered a variety of fiscal storms, each time coming out stronger and more resilient. We have seen political changes, socio-economic changes, and regional growth, all the while maintaining our hold, our local autonomy, and a small-town atmosphere.
Our citizens and businesses pay so much less for utilities than our neighbors in the townships.
There is no real estate tax increase in 2026.
Therefore, under the authority of state statutes, the Borough levies the following taxes:
- Local Services Tax (LST) - Determined by Town Council, and collected by the Franklin County Area Tax Bureau. The LST is assessed to all individuals working in the Borough, earning over $12,000.00 annually. The purpose of the LST is to assist with funding for the Borough's emergency services that are available to individuals who spend their work day in the Borough. The LST is withheld and submitted by the employer, at a uniform rate per pay period, over the course of the calendar year. For more information regarding the Earned Income & Net Profits Tax and/or Local Services Tax (LST), please contact the Franklin County Area Tax Bureau directly: 443 Stanley Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201, (717) 263-5141, www.fcatb.org
2024 Sample Borough Tax Bill