{"id":147121,"date":"2026-01-13T21:08:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147121"},"modified":"2026-01-13T21:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:08:44","slug":"allentown-city-council-holds-special-meeting-on-2026-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147121","title":{"rendered":"Allentown City Council Holds Special Meeting on 2026 Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 13, 2026 \u2014 Allentown City Council held a special meeting this evening to consider the City\u2019s 2026 Budget.<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, City Council voted on the budget submitted by the Mayor, which includes a 3.96% real estate tax increase and a $140 increase to the annual trash fee. The ordinance adopting the Mayor\u2019s proposed budget passed by a 4\u20133 vote.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the budget vote, Councilman Jeremy Binder announced his intention to introduce a forthcoming resolution focused on strengthening the City\u2019s budget process. The resolution will seek to clearly define two key issues moving forward: what procedural steps occur if a similar budget situation arises again, and what the consequences are if a budget agreement is not reached.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed resolution will direct a review of Allentown\u2019s budgetary process, including communication practices and alignment with best practices, with the goal of improving clarity, transparency, and understanding for all parties involved.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution is expected to be introduced at the January 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0City Council meeting.<\/p>\n<p>City Council meets regularly at Allentown City Hall, where members consider legislation, discuss community priorities, and work to advance policies that support the city\u2019s continued growth and well-being. For more information about Allentown City Council, meeting schedules, or Council members, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.allentownpa.gov\/citycouncil\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.allentownpa.gov\/citycouncil&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1768441186509000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3J3qYxJn7OwCkxKzxow3_Y\">www.allentownpa.gov\/citycouncil<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nGenesis Ortega<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 13, 2026 \u2014 Allentown City Council held a special meeting this evening to consider the City\u2019s 2026 Budget. During the meeting, City Council voted on the budget submitted by &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147121\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Allentown City Council Holds Special Meeting on 2026 Budget<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5716,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allentown","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/allentown-city-seal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}