Where Butler County taxes increased, decreased in 2026
Of the 57 municipalities in Butler County, 10 — six townships and four boroughs — voted to raise taxes for 2026.
One of the steepest tax increases by percentage occurred in Clearfield Township, which raised taxes by one mill to 3.45 mills — an increase of 40.82% over last year.
“From their perspective, the cost of everything's gone up,” said the township’s secretary of the supervisors’ recent decision. “Gas has gone up. Electric’s gone up. All general expenses have gone up.”
Another municipality that raised taxes was Marion Township, which went from 7.13 mills to 8.13 mills.
Township secretary Craig Pierce said the increase came about due to rising expenses and decreasing liquid fuels reimbursements from the state of Pennsylvania.
“It’s just the cost of everything and our money from the state keeps going down. They keep lowering it every year,” Pierce said.
Fairview Borough raised its municipal tax rate by one mill, from 9 to 10.
In terms of raw millage, Buffalo Township approved the steepest tax hike in Butler County, raising its municipal tax rate 3 mills from 13.5 mills to 16.5 mills for 2026. This marks at least the fifth consecutive year Buffalo Township voted to raise the tax rate, which stood at 5.5 mills in 2021.
Cranberry Township voted to raise its total municipal tax rate from 13.25 mills to 15.75 for 2026.
According to township manager Dan Santoro, the extra tax revenue will be used to create a new recreational investment fund.
“We didn’t raise general tax millage, we simply created a new fund,” Santoro said. “It’ll be used mostly for new recreational investments ... It could be improvements to our facilities which are aging, such as our water park. It could also be used for new land acquisition.”
Five different municipalities in Butler County — Jackson and Jefferson townships and the boroughs of Harmony, Saxonburg and Zelienople — raised their overall tax rate by exactly half a mill as a result of implementing a separate 0.5-mill tax solely to fund their designated emergency services department.
State law permits municipalities to impose a tax of up to 0.5 mills to fund emergency medical services.
While Winfield Township also implemented a half-mill EMS tax, the township’s overall millage of 6 mills remains the same as it was in 2025. According to supervisor Matthew Klabnik, the township lowered its general real estate tax from 6 mills to 5.5 mills to compensate for the new tax.
When approaching municipalities in late 2025, Lynn Curl, of Harmony EMS, requested municipalities covered by the service — such as Harmony, Zelienople and Jackson Township — support the service.
Their support is a step toward solving the funding problems that EMS face, she said.
“Even if we got the half-mill tomorrow from all our municipalities, that’s not even remounting one of our ambulances,” Curl said in December. “It absolutely does not solve the EMS funding problem.”
For reference, Harmony EMS refurbishes one ambulance each year on a rotating basis at a cost of about $167,000.
Bucking the trend of expenses and prices going up across the board, two municipalities in Butler County — Harrisville and the City of Butler — lowered taxes for 2026.
Harrisville slashed taxes by 2.5 mills for 2026, from 16 mills to 13.5. According to borough council President April Anschutz, the series of cuts comes as a result of a tax hike in 2024 which was against state regulations.
“At the end of 2023 going into 2024, the council had upped the millage rate without an ordinance. Therefore, it was not legal,” Anschutz said. “The borough is taking the accountability in giving a tax break over two years to give the taxpayers the money that they’re entitled to.”
Anschutz said the millage rate will stay at 13.5 mills for Harrisville residents for at least two years.
“For 2026 and 2027, it'll stay at that rate,” Anschutz said. “We’re just trying to right a wrong.”
Meanwhile, the city voted to make a major tax cut, lowering its municipal tax rate from 44 mills to 32.6 mills — a decrease of over 25%.
Mayor Bob Dandoy previously said the decrease is due to the windfall the city received from the sale of the Butler Area Sewer Authority, which it once co-owned with several neighboring municipalities. BASA was sold to Pennsylvania American Water in October 2024 for $230 million and dissolved. The proceeds were split between the city and Butler Township.
Despite also seeing financial benefits from the BASA sale, Butler Township’s municipal tax rate remains flat at 11.25 mills.
