Northampton County Council Rejects Proposed Tax Rebate

A bad idea was soundly rejected last night during a brief Northampton County Council meeting. By a vote of seven to two, the tax rebate proposed by Lamont McClure and Charles Dertinger went down in flames.

Before the vote, Lamont McClure sternly warned, "We're overtaxing our citizens." He even argued that the county is taking in 80% more money than it needs to run the county. "This is unacceptable." McClure's sole ally, Charles Dertinger, ranted that the previous administration and council "actually did things. We are stuck in the mud."

Dertinger's right. The Glenn Reibman administration chipped away at that cash reserve until the at least forty union employees were let go in mid-February, 2004. Those who remained saw frozen wages and a 63.5% tax increase over just two years. Wayne Grube mentioned this before his vote against a rebate. "It's not sensible," he muttered.

Diane Neiper, who is learning day by day about the declining amounts of money being provided to Human Services, actually sat down with Budget Administrator Doran Hamann, who has served the county for 28 years. After going over those figures, "My fear is we're going to need money just to make our budget."

Ron Angle, who has consistently advocated keeping two months of operating expenses in reserve, kept it very simple. "There is not $8 million just laying around here to make people happy." And Peg Ferraro wanted to know, "Where is the staff going to come from?"

In a column published yesterday, Bill White questions the motives of Lamont McClure and Charles Dertinger. "What you shouldn't do is waste taxpayer money mailing refunds that will average $54 when you know you'll have to turn around and take it away. That only makes sense if you're a politician envisioning a spiffy campaign flier." That's the same conclusion reached in a Morning Call editorial. "This is a ginned-up campaign issue for the 2009 council and executive races, not something to handle county finances responsibly. Council should drop it." My own conclusion was that this is little more than "a fiscally reckless appeal for votes."

Minutes after the vote, McClure and Dertinger were giggling and whispering to each other like schoolchildren, which adds fuel to the fires of those who question their motives. But I believe we may have misjudged them. McClure actually sent me several emails to argue his position, posted a comment and even persuaded The Morning Call to publish an op-ed.

I now believe he's sincere. His rebate suggestion has been rejected, but council will certainly be looking at that unrestricted reserve to help fund some of the upfront cost of the county's badly needed parking deck.