Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams (right) and Communications Director Mischelle Moyer (file photo).
Harrisburg’s 2026 budget is in flux as officials disagree on salaries for several top city positions.
Mayor Wanda Williams last week vetoed several changes City Council made to the general fund budget before passing it earlier this month. She stamped vetoes on council’s amendments that zeroed out or significantly reduced salaries for the city’s business, economic development and housing directors.
Council since announced that it would hold a special legislative session on Monday evening, with the budget back on the agenda. Council has the power to override Williams’ vetoes.
On Dec. 15, council passed the 2026 budget for the city, making amendments to zero salaries for the city’s interim business administrator, project director for business administration/LERTA and the police bureau’s director of community engagement and relations. Council also zeroed out the city’s portion of the salary for the interim director of building and housing development, which supplements the portion of the salary funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
During the meeting, council members expressed concern over the length of time that “interim” directors had been in their posts without council approval, and said they were dissatisfied with the performance of others.
Williams has line-item vetoed all of those changes.
Council does not have the ability to fire city employees, but, as council noted during budget meetings, does have the power of the purse.
However, Williams protested the way council exercised that power.
In her “veto statement” attached to her budget vetoes, Williams said that, for at least two of the positions, council failed to “cite any financial basis for eliminating this funding, which is the limit of the council’s authority.” She also said, under her justification for vetoing one of the zeroed positions, that “the action effectively terminates an existing employee, which is an executive power exclusively vested in the mayor.”
Williams also repeatedly stated that council’s amendments would harm the city and taxpayers, stressing the importance of the roles and the reorganization that would need to take place in city hall if the positions were unable to be filled.
Council attempted to make similar changes to last year’s budget, eliminating the city’s portion of funding for the housing director’s role, removing funding for the police bureau’s community engagement director, and lowering proposed raises for other staff. However, Williams vetoed those amendments near the end of the year. Council had no meeting scheduled in time to consider an override.
The city’s budget process again highlighted the deep divide between Williams and council. Council said that many of the issues came down to communication and placed the blame on Williams’ shoulders. However, members of Williams’ administration said that she was open to communicating with council.
For council to overturn the mayor’s veto on Monday, they would need a vote of five or more.
As for what would happen next if council successfully yanks funds from several city positions, officials have said that remains to be seen.
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