Mayor Wanda Williams presented her proposed 2026 budget to City Council on Tuesday.
Harrisburg began its annual budget review process with City Council on Tuesday.
Mayor Wanda Williams announced the city’s proposed 2026 general fund budget of $88.1 million, which does not include a property tax increase.
“This is a balanced budget with no tax increase,” Williams said. “That achievement required discipline in a year marked by sharply rising insurance costs, a volatile fuel market and inflation that continues to strike nearly every municipal service.”
The total proposed budget, including the capital projects fund, state liquid fuels fund and neighborhood services fund, among others, is $127.4 million.
Of note in the proposed budget are significant raises for several city officials—including a $20,000 raise for the mayor. According to Interim Business Administrator Sam Sulkosky, the mayor’s current $80,000 annual salary has remained the same for 20 years, since 2006.
City Solicitor Neil Grover said that the mayor decided to propose the raise, describing the move as a “tough political call,” which has discouraged elected officials in the past, but saying, “it makes good sense.”
“It’s been a long time. It’s something that needed to get done,” he said.
In addition to the mayor, the proposal includes $5,000 raises each for four city council members: Ausha Green, Jocelyn Rawls, Ralph Rodriguez and Rob Lawson, who was elected in November and will take his seat in the new year.
The city controller would receive a raise as well, $5,000. Newly elected, Karen Balaban will take the seat from current controller Charlie DeBrunner in January.
Sulkosky said that, according to the law, elected officials may only get a raise at the beginning of their term, which is why only some elected officials would get a raise this year. Others who begin a new term in two years would get raises at that time, he said.
In addition to the financial burdens that Williams said would impact the 2026 budget, officials said that a large number of county property tax reassessments and dismal parking revenue still impact the city—issues that they had highlighted during last year’s budget presentations. Williams said that the city plans to save money by bringing more work, such as road paving and demolition, in-house.
Currently, however, the proposed budget includes a surplus, with general fund revenues projected at $92.3 million. Sulkosky explained that some of that was due to the city’s $2 million increase in fire protection revenue from the state, bringing that total to $7 million. Additionally, Sulkosky said that, because the city’s union contracts are not approved yet, possible pay increases are not yet factored into the proposed budget.
Council will review and discuss the proposed budget with each department head at hearings on Dec. 2, 3, 4 and 8.
In other news, council gave the green light to two housing projects planned for the city.
Harrisburg-based WCI Partners plans to convert an office building at 1909 N. Front St. into 60 market-rate apartments. The building is currently occupied by Hersha Hospitality, but according to WCI, the company is downsizing and moving locations.
Under the proposal, WCI would create all one-bedroom units in the four-story, 58,832-square-foot building. There are also 71 off-street parking spaces.
Council approved the land development plan by a vote of 5-2, with council president Danielle Hill and member Crystal Davis voting against it. Hill said her “no” vote was due to the project not including affordable housing.
Also, Handles Helping Hand Foundation received approval to construct four attached, three-story affordable townhomes on vacant land at 1605 to 1613 Market St.
The project site is currently owned by the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority. A small community garden used to operate onsite, but the lot has since become blighted. The developer will consolidate the five parcels on the land and subdivide it into four lots.
The $1.5 million project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2026, according to foundation president Chris Franklin, a Harrisburg native and former Harlem Globetrotter. Townhomes would be sold to lower-income families for around $120,000.
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