When: Columbia Borough School board meeting, June 9.
What happened: The school board unanimously approved the 2026-27 general budget at the final meeting for the 2025-26 school year.
Details: With expenses projected at $35.1 million and revenue of $34.5 million, this budget resolution sets the tax rate for Columbia residents at 25.26 mills. This results in a .40 mill or 1.5% reduction from 2025-26, a first for the school district, which has consistently refrained from increasing taxes for the last six years. One mill equals $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
More: The board also approved a resolution for the Homestead and Farmstead Exclusion Act, with the estimated total reduction in real estate taxes at $622.53 for approved homesteads, an increase from last year. In addition, the board committed the $9.38 million in remaining fund balance from the 2025-26 year for future retirement benefit costs, technology and curriculum purchases, and learning loss costs.
Next steps: The budget documents will be sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for approval. All public school districts in the Commonwealth are required to submit their 2026-27 general fund budgets to the PDE by June 30.
This 1917 American La France fire truck, which is undergoing a restoration, will be on display at the “Thunder on the River” car show on Saturday.
A piece of firefighting history will be on display at Columbia’s “Thunder on the River” car show on Saturday, when a 1917 American La France fire truck makes an appearance in the heart of the downtown.
The antique truck will be stationed in the 400 block of Locust Street, across from Columbia Pizza.
Fire company members, who are working to restore and preserve the truck, will accept donations to help fund the ongoing restoration.
Donations of Columbia fire company memorabilia from former departments, such as photographs, equipment, uniforms, or other artifacts, are also being accepted and can be dropped off at the display for preservation.
Lancaster County property owners are opening mailboxes this week to find reassessment notices reflecting dramatic increases in their property values — with some communities seeing assessments nearly double under the county’s first major reassessment in years.
Notices are being mailed Monday, June 15, 2026, for the 2027 Final Reassessment, which applies to taxable parcels countywide.
Countywide numbers
The average single-family home in Lancaster County is currently assessed at $202,310, with a median assessment of $182,300. Across the county, the average percent change per parcel is 89.94%, while the median change lands at 78.52% — meaning most homeowners will see their assessed value nearly double on paper.
Columbia Borough hit hardest
Among all municipalities listed in the reassessment statistics, Columbia Borough posted the highest average increase in the county at 140.74% — more than 50 percentage points above the countywide average. That means a Columbia Borough property previously assessed at $150,000 could now carry an assessed value of roughly $361,000.
Other municipalities saw significant but comparatively lower increases:
What this means for your tax bill — and what it doesn’t
County officials are emphasizing a critical point that often gets lost in reassessment headlines: higher assessments do not automatically mean higher tax bills.
The purpose of a reassessment, according to county documentation, is to equalize all property values to 100% of current fair market value — ensuring that similar properties are taxed fairly relative to one another. Local taxing bodies, including school districts and municipalities, are expected to adjust their millage rates in response to the new values.
“Reassessments are NOT done to increase property taxes,” the county states plainly in its documentation.
Frequently asked questions
A useful rule of thumb offered by the county: Could you sell your property for your new assessed value in today’s real estate market? If the answer is yes, the new value may be accurate.
How to check your assessment — and how to appeal
Property owners who have not received a notice, or want to review their new value, can visit LancasterPA-reval.Devnetwedge.com and search by parcel number, address, or name.
Every property owner has the right to appeal their assessed value through the Board of Assessment Appeals. The board evaluates appeals based on the fair market value of the property. Property owners considering an appeal should review their new assessed value carefully before filing.
Questions about incorrect mailing addresses can be directed to PAQuestions@LancasterCountyPA.gov.
Additional district-by-district reassessment data is available through the Lancaster County Assessment Office.
A 3-alarm fire tore through three homes and a warehouse at South 4th Street and Avenue I on Saturday afternoon. Several residents are believed to have been displaced.
The call came in shortly after 3 p.m., prompting dozens of units to respond.
Thick smoke billowed from the two-story homes as firefighters worked to knock down the fire from multiple angles. Mutual aid was provided by several departments, including more than 40 units from across Lancaster and York counties, including EMA and ECC personnel.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. No information on injuries was immediately available.
On May 5, Holly Arndt was sworn-in as chief of the Columbia Borough Police Department.[Columbia Spy photo by Joe Lintner]
DAN NEPHIN | LNP Staff Writer
Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz said it became clear when evaluating staff to determine if the department could hire from within, or if it would have to look outside, that Holly Arndt was who they were looking for.
“She was head and hands above all the other officers in her willingness to move forward and to better herself and also the department,” Lutz said Friday.
Arndt admitted to a reluctance to take the lieutenant’s test at first. She said “the guys and girls that work here — is what motivated me to step into that, to take the test, because I’m like, man, if we don’t, if I don’t do this, what if they hire an outside chief, and that person, we don’t know what that person is going to be like,” Arndt said.
On May 5, Arndt was sworn-in as chief, with family present, including her fiance, Alyse Gallagher, herself a K9 officer in Manheim Township. Her salary is $123,497.
Arndt is just the third female chief of a Lancaster County police force, something she downplayed.
Arndt wants to hire officers to fill vacancies. Columbia is authorized for 21 officers, which includes the chief and one detective. Right now, the department has 16 officers. Another candidate is expected to graduate from the police academy at the end of June.
The department is working to become accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, which would show the department meets best-practices law enforcement standards.
Pennsylvania has more than 1,100 law enforcement agencies, but just 205 are accredited, according to the association. “And I really want to focus on community policing, too. I know everybody talks about that, but I’ve had a couple meetings with citizens,” Arndt said. “They want to get back to doing town hall meetings and interacting with the police, not just not on calls.”
Officer wellness is another priority. Two officers recently got Planet Fitness to donate gym equipment and a borough resident donated a heavy bag to the police department. Arndt just has to find a place where everything can be set up.
And in September, Arndt will take a course through the Fraternal Order of Police so she can train other officers to be on a peer support team, “so you always have resources. I’m really big into that.”
Pennsylvania Stands Up is building power with and for working people across the state! Are you someone that is eager to knock doors and get to know your neighbors and the issues that matter most? We are actively searching for a field organizer in Columbia Borough!
If interested submit a resume to Kareena@pastandsup.org
The last of three men who took part in a 2024 Columbia shooting sparked by a dispute over a missing cellphone has been sentenced to prison.
Lancaster County Judge Todd Brown sentenced Isaiah Jose Diaz, 22, of Columbia, to 2½ to six years in state prison on May 28 for two counts of aggravated assault, conspiracy and related offenses.
Diaz pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 12.
According to Columbia police, on Nov. 1, 2024, Diaz, Caelan Natrell Brown, 20, of Columbia, and J’vian Mendez-Gonzalez, 20, of Lancaster, tracked two men to a house on the 400 block of Avenue K after a fight at a smoke shop. Mendez-Gonzalez shot at the house.
Brown dropped his cellphone during the fight and Brown, Mendez-Gonzalez and Diaz mistakenly believed one of the men they were fighting took the phone.
Several people were inside the residence when the shooting happened, but no one was injured.
Diaz told police he supplied the guns and hid them in his apartment’s ceiling after the shooting, according to charging documents.
Brown pleaded guilty last August and was sentenced to two to five years in state prison.
Mendez-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to his role in the shooting in January and he pleaded guilty in several other cases including kidnapping, for forcing a woman to get in his car after an argument in August 2024 in Lancaster city, and a May 2024 simple assault in Lancaster city.
Mendez-Gonzalez was sentenced to a total of three to eight years in state prison for all the cases.
