Cheryl Geidner figured council members in Volant, a tiny borough north of Pittsburgh, would adopt a preliminary year-end budget despite no discussions at public meetings on the proposed financials.

She never figured they’d raise property taxes by 57%.

That’s what The Associated Press reported recently as part of its collaboration with media group CHNI News focusing on diminishing public access. The reporting team included Gwen Albers from the New Castle News and others.

The AP’s portion, part of its support of local democracy coverage, is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The Volant plan, given final approval earlier this month, will steeply increase tax bills: A property assessed at $100,000 would increase from $700 to $1,100 per year.

To be clear, tax assessments are not voted on in Pennsylvania as they are in Ohio, so it’s unlikely this type of drastic tax increase could occur here without voter input.

Still, the point of the reporting series was to shine a light on important government discussions that undeniably should be occurring in public, but are not.

Observers say a striking trend toward secrecy exists among local governments nationwide.

Few states compile data on public records requests, and laws governing open records differ by state; however, a review by data provided by MuckRock — a nonprofit news site that files and shares public records requests — found between 2010 and 2021, local governments’ compliance with records requests dropped from 63% to 42%.

Earlier this year, officials in a suburban Chicago community cited a local news reporter for what they said were persistent contacts with city officials seeking comment on flooding. The tickets alleged “interference / hampering of city employees.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Calumet City, population 35,000 located 24 miles south of Chicago, cited Hank Sanders, reporter for the Daily Southtown, for being too overzealous in raising questions in representation of the people.

The citations were dropped a few days later.

In October, residents of Sapelo Island in Georgia, who largely rely on a ferry to get to the mainland, accused county officials of making it difficult for residents to attend important public meetings by scheduling them after the last ferry was slated to depart.

Back in Volant, Pa., after the council approved the preliminary budget in November, a local reporter requested a copy of it — and was denied. Told to schedule a meeting with the borough’s secretary, the reporter was met by a closed office, the article reports.

Taped to the door was a five-paragraph explainer from the council president briefly mentioning rising expenses but offering no specific fiscal data.

Council’s president and vice president did not respond to requests for further comment. At a meeting when council approved the tax hike, officials said the borough has operated in deficit for years but avoided raising taxes previously because of COVID-19 and high unemployment.

Incredibly, the AP / CHNI article noted that incidents of governments suing journalists and residents for making records requests also have become more common, said Jonathan Peters, a media law professor at the University of Georgia.

In some regions, elected officials are engaging in more combative behavior with constituents.

Researchers have several theories about the new landscape. Local agencies generally lack sufficient staff and infrastructure to efficiently process records requests. Then there is the decline of local media institutions, which have limited resources to wage costly legal battles over access to meetings and records.

Compounding the issue is the increased polarization gripping communities nationwide. Election offices across the country have been flooded with records requests from activists motivated by election falsehoods, piling on work. And school boards, for instance, have become political battlegrounds over COVID-19 policies and curriculum, prompting flurries of records requests, accusations of public meeting violations and intense scrutiny. In some areas, school boards have become dominated by highly divisive members.

No doubt this trend is troubling.

That’s why it’s more important now than ever the media continue to push for openness and that the public be educated about public access laws.

Even more important than that, though, is for our elected officials to be educated about Sunshine laws — and follow them to the letter.

The Associated Press and CHNI News contributed to this column.

blinert@tribtoday.com