ZELIENOPLE — Borough council on Monday approved a roughly $12 million total budget for 2022, which includes a 1-mill fire tax increase, the creation of a new governmental department and roughly $4 million in general fund expenditures.

The 2022 budget is about a 3.6% increase from the current year's, but underneath the surface there are some significant changes to how the borough handles certain government functions and services.

Borough manager Don Pepe said last week that Zelienople plans to, with its 2022 budget, take on the day-to-day operations of Zelienople Community Park, which has been under the auspices of the parks board. Zelienople, under the previous arrangement, owns the land and structures and is responsible for capital improvements.

But with the restructuring, Pepe said, the borough will run the park, while the parks board will be reborn as an advisory panel, similar to how planning commissions operate.

In addition, Zelienople residents and businesses can now expect to pay slightly more on their tax bills as the borough approved an increase in its fire tax rate to 3 mills. This comes as Harmony Fire District, which serves Zelienople and three nearby communities, aims to build its new main fire station on Main Street in the borough.

While the overall budget — which includes the general, fire, electric, water, library and highway aid funds — increases at under 4%, the general fund, from which Zelienople pays for its bills, will increase by roughly 25%. For the most part, this is due to the borough's repayment of its Butler County Infrastructure Bank loan, which it procured to pay for improvements along Main Street, a stormwater project above Community Park and other infrastructure projects.

Pepe said last week the $377,000 principal repayment is not set in stone, as Zelienople can still return unused funds should it receive grants or other money to pay for certain projects for which the loan would otherwise have paid.

Outside the general fund, the remaining budget will decrease by about $300,000, and all tax rates other than the fire tax will remain the same.