Mt. Lebanon commissioners approved a $33.2 million operating budget Tuesday that increases the real estate tax rate.

The commission approved raising the rate by 0.67 mill, to a total of 5.43 mills. As the budget stands now, property owners will pay $543 next year for a home valued at $100,000, up from $476 in 2011.

The higher tax rate is based on current property assessments and could be lowered after the county reassessment process, municipal manager Stephen Feller said, because the reassessments are likely to raise home values.

The commission voted 4-1 to pass the budget, with Commissioner Joseph DeIuliis dissenting.

The adopted budget preserves all municipal services, including expanding summer library hours to Sundays.

The separate budget for capital improvements includes $2.1 million for street reconstruction, more than the municipality has ever allocated for that purpose. The municipality plans to rebuild 1.25 miles of streets.

Earlier this month, Mr. Feller said the county reassessment process is a "key factor" in establishing the millage. The commission delayed its budget vote and the public hearing on proposed changes to this week, so that commissioners could get a better idea of how to properly set the millage.

County officials were ordered to first complete reassessment work on properties in the city and Mount Oliver and have been under pressure to send reassessment figures for residential and commercial properties in those areas by Tuesday. Those officials are expected to present a schedule Jan. 5, outlining when the rest of the county can expect its assessments.

The commission's proposed real estate tax of 5.47 mills was reduced to 5.43 during the amendment process, but the millage as it stands now is still the highest in recent years. In 2010, the rate was 4.89. It dropped to 4.76 this year.

The 2012 budget also includes outgoing Commissioner Dan Miller's proposed fiscal reforms, which requires the municipality to balance the budget with transfers from the general fund and other funds -- not from the undesignated fund balance. In addition, the new rules say taxes can't be decreased if the budget is dependent on the undesignated fund balance.

Mr. DeIuliis dissented on all of Mr. Miller's fiscal reforms and said he did not want to put an extra burden on people through higher taxes.

Residents who voiced concern last month about the municipality's purported deer overpopulation won't get the cull or deer density study they were clamoring for in 2012. The commission voted 4-1 to direct the municipal staff to conduct a deer management report by July.

It will include an analysis of police reports on deer incidents, deer control seminars for homeowners and information on various options for agencies that conduct deer density studies.

Mr. DeIuliis, who had previously asked the commission to consider budgeting for a cull, dissented because he said the issue should be under the purview of the new commission.