We have concerns about the 2026 budget proposed for the City of Williamsport.

Of course, we are concerned about any tax increase. Increasing the millage rate will make the city less appealing to new businesses and new families and will place a greater strain on the hard-working families and businesses that already call Williamsport home.

But beyond the tax increase, the budget assumes a portion of revenue will arrive from the sale of the condemned City Hall building on West Fourth Street.

City Council tabled the bids to purchase the building more than 25 months ago. We have no reason to believe they are more eager now to take the matter up.

More importantly, we cannot recommend selling City Hall before clearer plans are offered for where our city’s administrative offices will be permanently located.

Council members and their constituents alike should be able to weigh the different costs of different options first. How much would it cost to build a new building? How much would it cost to buy and modify another existing building in town? We suspect either would cost more than it would cost to fix the condemned building up.

How much would it cost to renovate or modify the locations the city has been using as “temporary” offices? What would the timeline for that potential solution look like?

As we’ve repeatedly editorialized since the building was condemned, our city council needs information to make an informed decision and our voters need information to assess whether they’ve made an informed decision.

Unfortunately in the years now that this has been an issue, our mayor and other city leaders have been too reluctant to examine these questions so that the taxpayers of Williamsport can feel any confidence that the right decision will be made.