Hanover and Bethlehem Townships, upset that they were never even told about this tax grab, have challenged the 2009 law in Commonwealth Court. Ten municipalities have voted to join them, and developer Abe Atiyeh has filed a separate suit.
Last week's NIZ action - fast and furious - was crammed into Thursday and Friday.
The Great NIZ Debate. - Business Matters, a WFMZ show hosted by Tony Iannelli, hosted a 5-person debate concerning the NIZ that was almost as controversial as the NIZ itself. Michael Fleck, Mayor Pawlowski's campaign consultant and a trade unions consultant, refused to appear unless I was disinvited. Allentown's DCED Director, Sara Hailstone, decided at the last minute that she was unable to appear because of the pending litigation. But her replacement, ANIZDA chair Sy Traub, would have the same problem. Halfway through the show, Traub was replaced by Lehigh Financial Group's Jeff Barber, who dismissed the businesses displaced by arena demolition as a "cancer."
The show airs tonight on WFMZ-TV's Business Matters, 8 PM.
A Nuts and Bolts Presentation. - In stark contrast to the fireworks on Business Matters, Northampton County's Eeconomic Development Administrator, Alicia Karner, provided a neutral presentation to Northamptn County Council's Economic Development. She indicated the downtown NIZ will increase downtown office space between 350,000 and 500,000 sq ft. There will also be up to 100,000 sq ft of retail space. The project will produce approximately 750 full-time jobs.
Taxpayers Spending $667,000 per Job.- The downtown NIZ arena will be financed by a $220 million bond. The debt service and renovations over thirty years will cost around $500 million. Doing the math, taxpayers will spend $667,000 for each of the 750 permanent jobs created.
Asked for comment, Allentown DCED Director and Interim ANIZDA Exec Director Sara Hailstone has declined to respond.
Transparent and accountable as always.
ANIZDA might consider Anti-Poaching Guidelines. - In a brief Thursday meeting, Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority Chair Sy Traub suggested reducing the tax concessions available to Lehigh Valley businesses that move within the NIZ. But no action was taken on his proposal, and only minor changes were made to development guidelines.
Northampton County Council Takes a Stand. - In a 5-4 vote, Northampton County Council adopted a resolution calling for a repeal of the NIZ legislation legislation.
So Does Upper Milford Township. - Unanimously, Upper Milford Supervisors condemned the NIZ, but stopped short of joining the litigation.
Townships Respond to Allentown's Settlement Offer. Broughal and DeVito, the law firm representing Townships in their constitutional challenge to the NIZ legislation, has responded to Allentown's settlement offer. Have they accepted or rejected a proposal that would allow Townships to keep current EIT and share in a development fund? So far, mum's the word. But that won't last long.
Stay tuned.
(Updated 7 AM, to note Upper Milford's opposition.)
15 comments:
Asked for comment, Allentown DCED Director and Interim ANIZDA Exec Director Sara Hailstone has declined to respond.
Ahh.
is karner bucking for another job?
Karner did what Council asked her to do.
The AOL patch reports that Upper Mac voted last Thursday to join the lawsuit.
Really? I can't find a link to this story.
I found one to Upper Miflord and will note it.
BO you didn't answer the question
Why don't you call and ask her?
"$220 million bond. The debt service and renovations over thirty years will cost around $500 million. Doing the math, taxpayers will spend $667,000 for each of the 750 permanent jobs created."
this figure is very low. according to the city the arena will only create 75 full time jobs and 300 part time ones. the 750 jobs include ones at the sports medical center, the hotels, and the office buildings all owned by City Center. as we are well aware city center has been granted $155 million in financing so the math is quite off. I'm not sure on total cost after interest on Reillys money, nor am I sure that his $155 million is all that is needed for his construction projects (there are at least 3 other buildings he has planed that are not paid for by the $155 million he has gotten so far, not sure if those buildings figure into the 750 jobs number) so if the arena is roughly $500 million (after interest and "capital improvements") then, by the cities own job count, the arena jobs will cost $1,333,333 each and over three quarters of those jobs will be part time only.
now my other question about the jobs numbers is this. of those 750 "new" jobs in the NIZ, how many of them are existing jobs moved into the NIZ? if we destroy 200 jobs when we throw out all the existing merchants downtown and move in businesses that already existed elsewhere in the valley then isn't there a loss of jobs in the valley because of the NIZ? are these numbers figured into the NIZ new jobs numbers?
Agree with Elijah. The $667,000 figure is unrealistically low. The cost of full-time jobs is over $1.5 million each.
In a world where government creates value and wealth, and money grows on trees, this scheme makes perfect sense.
In the real world where government creates nothing but entitlements from monies it confiscates from taxpayers, we've seen this movie a hundred times and it doesn't end well.
Upper Milford never gave any reason for not joining completely or as an interested party. Maybe they are torn between the cost of litigation with the hope an agreement is reached and EIT is restored.
Bernie find out when the grass will commence too being planted in the 220mil hole.
karner is obviously one of your personal pets
I found the link to the article that states Upper Mac joined the lawsuit. I was wrong - it was at the Morning Call, not Patch - sorry.
Anyways, the article says, "Hanover and Bethlehem townships in Northampton County have filed a lawsuit to fight the law, which could require them to forfeit earned income tax revenue from their employees who work in the zone. Four municipalities have joined the lawsuit as intervenors and eight more are awaiting court approval to join as intervenors. Upper Macungie voted Thursday to join them."
Here is the link to the article: http://articles.mcall.com/2012-05-03/news/mc-northampton-county-niz-repeal-vote-20120503_1_tax-zone-neighborhood-improvement-zone-hockey-arena
It was buried in at the end. I think it's significant news!
Thanks for the link. Appreciated.
"karner is obviously one of your personal pets"
Really? That will be news to her. Alicia is a responsible public sector employee who does her job. Sounds like someone is jealous, or perhaps angry that she refused to blow smoke up Council's ass over the NIZ. I realize that's the way it goes n the City Without Limits, but other municipal officials have quaint notions about honesty and ethics. Go figure.
Post a Comment