The Lebanon County Commissioners are the three-member elected board that governs Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. The current commissioners are Robert J. Phillips, Michael J. Kuhn, and Jo Ellen Litz, and together they set the county’s annual budget and property tax rate, oversee county departments, and adopt local ordinances.1Lebanon County. Office of the Board of Commissioners Their office is in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building at 400 South 8th Street, and the main line is (717) 228-4427.
What the Board Does
The board operates under the Pennsylvania County Code and combines executive and legislative authority in one body. Commissioners appoint the County Solicitor and Chief Clerk, set internal policy, and carry out state regulations at the county level.
Several major operations report to the board directly. The commissioners supervise the Lebanon County Correctional Facility and the Department of Children and Youth Services, which alone has a 2026 budget of nearly $17.7 million.2Lebanon County. 2026 Proposed Budget They also oversee the Bureau of Elections and Voter Registration. On the legislative side, the board can adopt ordinances on land use, public health, and safety within county boundaries, and it maintains county-owned infrastructure including dozens of bridges and the Municipal Building. Any decision to buy or sell county property requires a formal vote at a public meeting.
Fiscal management is the heaviest piece of the job. Each year the commissioners prepare and adopt an operating budget before the end of December. Lebanon County’s total 2026 budget across all funds is approximately $113.8 million, with a General Fund of about $67.9 million. To fund mandated services, the board sets the county real estate millage rate. For 2026, the commissioners raised the rate by 0.20 mills, from 4.3925 to 4.5925 mills.2Lebanon County. 2026 Proposed Budget That county rate is only one piece of your total property tax bill. School district and municipal taxes are added on top by those separate taxing bodies. All county financial disbursements require approval from at least two of the three commissioners at a public meeting.
The board shares county government with independently elected row officers, including the District Attorney, Sheriff, Controller, Treasurer, Coroner, Clerk of Courts, Prothonotary, Register of Wills, and Recorder of Deeds. Those offices answer to voters, not to the commissioners, though the board sets their funding through the budget.
How Commissioners Are Elected
All three commissioners serve concurrent four-year terms. Elections fall in odd-numbered years. The most recent was in 2023, and the next is scheduled for 2027.
Pennsylvania law prevents a single party from holding every seat. Under the County Code, each voter may cast ballots for only two candidates in a commissioner race even though three seats are on the ballot. The three top vote-getters win, which effectively guarantees at least one seat to a minority-party candidate.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 16 Section 12501 – Election and Vacancies
Attending Meetings and Speaking to the Board
The commissioners hold regular public meetings on the first and third Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building.4Lebanon County. Meetings The board also schedules workshops for deeper discussion of specific topics.
Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act requires official deliberations and votes to happen in meetings open to the public, and it requires the board to give residents and taxpayers a reasonable opportunity to comment at each advertised regular and special meeting before any official action.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 65 Chapter 7 – Open Meetings Three minutes per speaker is a common time limit, though the board has discretion to adjust that depending on the complexity of the topic.6Office of Open Records. Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act (Open Meetings Law) If you plan to speak, arrive a few minutes early to sign in before the session begins.
Public Records and Financial Disclosures
Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law lets you request records from the county, and the law presumes that records in an agency’s possession are public unless an exemption applies. After you submit a written request to the county’s open-records officer, the agency has five business days to grant it, deny it with a legal explanation, or invoke a 30-calendar-day extension for more complex requests.7Pennsylvania General Assembly. Right-to-Know Law The county cannot charge for staff review time but can charge reasonable duplication and postage fees. A denial can be appealed to the state Office of Open Records.
Commissioners are public officials under the Pennsylvania Ethics Act and must file a Statement of Financial Interests each year they hold office, plus one additional year after leaving. The annual filing deadline is May 1, covering the prior calendar year.8Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. File a Statement of Financial Interests Those filings are public records, so any resident can review them to check for conflicts between a commissioner’s personal financial interests and official decisions.
Contacting the Board
The Board of Commissioners’ office is in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building at 400 South 8th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042-6794. The phone number is (717) 228-4427. Meeting agendas, budget documents, and department contacts are posted at lebanoncountypa.gov.1Lebanon County. Office of the Board of Commissioners