'Not helping them': Senior property tax rebate fueled by hybrid vehicle savings passes in Easton, but concerns remain

EASTON, Pa. — An exiting Easton City Councilman was able to get one last piece of legislation across the line before he left his seat on Friday.

But that ordinance, which proposes a senior tax rebate program funded with fuel savings from the city’s hybrid police vehicles, has left questions for the current council.

The concept, introduced by former Councilman Roger Ruggles, was based on the idea that the city’s hybrid police vehicles would cut costs for fuel allocation.

The savings then would be used for seniors on fixed incomes struggling with taxes.

Council debated the idea several times in 2025, with some members requesting additional information about how it would be run.

Ruggles’s ordinance squeaked by in a 4-3 vote on Jan. 2, with Councilmen Frank Pintabone and Councilman Ken Brown and Councilwoman Crystal Rose voting against, and Mayor Sal Panto Jr., Ruggles, Taiba Sultana and James Edinger voting in favor.

“So we have, I think, two right [police vehicles] now in service that are hybrid, and we're moving to put all of them as hybrids,” Ruggles said at the Friday meeting.

“The other really big advantage of this is, once this is implemented with all the cars, it's anticipated that we will reduce our carbon footprint, our CO2 output, from those cars by a million pounds per year.

"So not only is it something which is a cost savings, but it is also environmentally prudent.

“So again, this is this is monies that we wouldn't have had if we didn't switch to those hybrids. But it costs the citizens of Easton nothing, and we're providing a benefit to the seniors who are… experiencing difficulties keeping up with their bills.”

How much?

But questions previously raised by fellow council members remain — primarily about how much money actually would be available for the program.

Pintabone asked Finance Director Mark Lysynecky for figures related to the two police hybrids.

Lysynecky said estimations could only be based on about half a year of use for those squad cars, which were introduced in July.

“However, comparing that to the run rate of the other gas patrol cars, it looks like we saved about $734 if you were to annualize the full run rate,” Lysynecky said.

“So assuming we got the hybrids in January, we would have saved about $734 per vehicle. I would also like to note with two hybrids, obviously, it would be close to $1,400, $1,500 overall that we would have saved.”

But Lysynecky said council also needed to consider that hybrids cost about $3,000 more than gas-powered vehicles, which could affect the savings and the pool of money for the tax rebate.

'Don't know true savings yet'

Pintabone and Rose during discussions both expressed longstanding concerns, including Pintabone’s point that the city may face a $2.6 million budget gap within the next five years.

“Maybe they get a check back for $25, $40, but it doesn't help them if we turn around and increase their property tax at the end of the year," Pintabone said.

"I think it's too early to give away money, and we don't know what the true savings is going to be yet."

Rose said that even if there are real savings from the hybrids, the funds perhaps could be put to better use stabilizing the city’s overall budget.

“I also think that fuel fluctuates, and maintenance costs can be greater for the electric vehicles from what I've gathered,” Rose said.

“Also, how many seniors do we have in that pool who are homeowners within the city? If they're only getting a small amount, like $25, what is the administration cost as well in those hours?

"I would just like to see more data. I think if we had a larger bucket of money, it would make more sense to go in that direction.”

Further concerns

In an interview this week, Pintabone said that with the additional costs of the hybrids, paired with an expected increase of 6% for fuel and 6% to 10% for vehicle parts, it would be better to wait to see what savings actually materialize.

Pintabone said the city already pays about half a million dollars in vehicle lease payments each year, and “every year, car prices are going up 2.5 percent to 3 percent."

That may prompt city officials to reduce the number of vehicles bought each year, he said.

“This was strictly a show, and I feel bad," Pintabone said. "The seniors were told they're getting a rebate and they might not be getting one.”

Pintabone stressed that he wants to see seniors get help with taxes, but the measure perhaps was not the best method to achieve the goal — at least for now.

In an interview this week, Rose said she was disappointed about the measure moving forward with missing critical information and unanswered questions.

She said she supported helping seniors, but would prefer to have a fully realized program to do so.

“I can't vote on something I don't have all the data for," Rose said. "So when it was presented again, it was presented at a reorg[anization] meeting, which I think it should have been something for the new council to consider.

"We didn't have all the data needed to understand the full financial impact."

'Need to really look at again'

Brown said the proposal could be a great idea if the police fleet changes more over the next few years, and “this could be something that we for sure need to really look at again.”

“I hope that we don’t sunset this, but keep it in the sun and maybe bring it back up as we see our fleet change,” Brown said.

Mayor Panto said that while the savings did not seem like much at the moment, if the department swapped all of its 40 vehicles, “it comes to a substantial amount of money.”

“I think this is something that will grow each year as we continue to turn our fleet over to hybrids, and I think then the public, especially the seniors, will be able to see savings,” Panto said.

Ruggles said the city’s revenue for 2026, which “is coming out of the citizens’ pockets,” will greatly affect people in the city, especially seniors.

"We increased the amount of revenue in the budget on the backs of the citizens of the Easton,” Ruggles said.

“This proposal would not come into effect until 2027 property taxes. And at that time, our fleet will have increased, the amount of money that's in the pot will have increased.

"And I think it's a good lead into that.”

Pintabone said that even if they pool was built over a two-year period, it would only amount to about $12 per applicant, “which is something I’m not sneezing at.”

“But if I have to turn around and raise their taxes to double that, I’m not helping them,” Pintabone said.