Greenville Borough Council unveiled a revised current-year budget Friday that proposes a 24-percent increase in property taxes over last year but does not leave the borough much fiscal breathing room.

Council is expected to vote on the $3.06 million budget Feb. 12.

Copies of the budget are available at the borough building.

The plan sets the tax line at 31.5 mills -- 6.17 mills higher than last year's adjusted tax rate, and 5 mills higher than the rate approved by council in December.

A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. At 31.5 mills, a property assessed at $15,000 carries a tax bill of $472.

The $15,000 property carried a tax bill of $380 last year, $330 in 2000 and $280 in 1999.

Council Vice President Bryan D. Langietti, who chairs the budget committee, said the proposed hike was as low as it could be without forcing the borough to eliminate necessary services or drastically hamper them.

"I believe residents won't notice any effects on their services," Langietti said.

Langietti said the borough cut spending on line items for supplies, janitorial services, code enforcement, and building and equipment repairs, among other things.

The proposed budget does not leave the borough much breathing room. "We can't afford a catastrophe," Langietti said.

The borough also can't afford to start a contingency fund this year. It is generally recommended that contingency funds of between 8 percent and 10 percent of a municipality's budget -- in Greenville's case, about $300,000 -- be kept as a reserve. The borough has never had one, Langietti said. Council had discussed a larger tax increase to create a contingency fund, but Langietti said he felt now was not the time. "Taxpayers are burdened enough already," he said.

On New Year's Eve, council passed a 2002 spending plan that called for a 4.6-percent or 1.17-mill tax hike. Langietti had said that budget came up between $90,000 and $100,000 short.

Langietti said committee members learned, after reopening the budget and combing through the borough's books last month, that the gap was actually closer to between $350,000 and $400,000.

The proposed budget does not address the depleted $3.67 million bond issue.

The borough used about $500,000 of the bond issue -- which was earmarked for the local share of a multi-million recreation and revitalization project -- for general purposes in 2000. The half-million-dollar figure does not include any bond money that may have been used in 2001. All lost bond money must be replaced.

An audit of the borough's 2001 finances, which should indicate whether more bond money was used last year, is expected to be reviewed by auditors at a council meeting Thursday, according to council President Richard S. Houpt.