09/24/2026
Mayor’s Veto Letter to Council concerning the Repeal of the Amusement Tax brought by motion of Councilperson. Who will make up the monies previously collected for these amusement taxes that benefited the residents?
BOROUGH OF NEW FREEDOM
Office of the Mayor —
Mayor Kim O. Butcher
Date: September 14, 2026
Mayor's Statement on the Repeal of the Amusement Tax Ordinance
I will not sign any ordinance repealing our current Amusement Tax Ordinance.
Neither myself nor Council have been given any substantial evidence or legal substance that definitively proves this Ordinance to be illegal or unconstitutional, and it has not been
challenged on its legal status in 13 years.
I have spent many hours researching and deliberating this issue, and I have found no substance to the Solicitor's claim that the current ordinance is illegal or unconstitutional. In fact, I have
found the opposite. This ordinance was drafted and approved by our former Solicitor and the same firm, and it was structured deliberately: it allows the Borough to tax permanent amusements
while avoiding the taxation of temporary amusements, because of the excessive administrative burden that would be placed on the Borough. This burden-based distinction has been upheld in multiple instances of Pennsylvania case law.
For all 13 years this ordinance has been in effect, every one of our religious, charitable, and nonprofit organizations has been exempt from taxation based on their short-term amusement
status, exactly as intended.
By the standards of the Taxing Authority, comparable Amusement
Tax Ordinances, relevant case law, and the authority granted to Council by law to serve as the deliberating body on these taxing matters, I believe this ordinance is legal, constitutional, and
should remain in place.
The Solicitor has repeatedly described this ordinance as completely legal when asked directly at several previous council meetings. That inconsistency alone should give everyone involved
pause about this decision and about the direction Council is currently taking.
Repealing this ordinance — after five separate votes to maintain it — and deliberately choosing not to collect funds that are rightfully due to the residents of New Freedom is, in my
opinion, an absolute failure of Council's duty to uphold its obligations to this community. Last year alone, this tax generated $35,000. Hundreds of thousands of dollars that have supported our budget, and could continue to support it in the future, will be lost as a direct result of eliminating this tax.
Not once has the majority of this Council asked the more obvious questions: Where is the proof from the Solicitor that part or all of this ordinance is unsound, and if so, why not amend or cure that specific portion? Doing so would allow us to continue taxing long-term
amusements that primarily benefit long-term private interests, while continuing to exempt the charitable and nonprofit organizations whose short-term fundraising efforts genuinely benefit our community and its members.
In addition, with Council's repeal of the Amusement Tax Ordinance on the stated grounds that it is illegal and unconstitutional, as stated by the Solicitor, this could indeed lead to claims for reimbursement of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, in addition to legal fees and the
extreme administrative time and expense involved.
For the benefit of my constituents — the taxpayers of New Freedom, our nonprofits, and other community organizations — I cannot in good conscience approve the complete repeal and elimination of the Amusement Tax brought by Councilperson Ginnie Neugebauer without further review or amendment.
If the saying “Haste makes Waste“ was ever appropriate Council’s overruling of this veto has wasted Hundreds of Thousands of future taxpayer funds unnecessarily.
Unfortunately, Council has believed the claim with regard to the Amusement Tax affecting our nonprofits and charitable organizations in a negative manner. As I’ve mentioned previously, not one of these organizations has been responsible to collect 1 dollar towards this tax.
Mayor Kim O. Butcher
