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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

LV Poverty & High Taxes Go Hand in Hand - Redux

Last week, I told that the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission has an interesting report concerning area demographics. I now have the report, entitled "Lehigh Valley Profile & Trends, 2011 Edition."
Which LV municipalities have the highest taxes? I had told you Allentown and Easton, but one tiny borough jumped ahead of Easton.

I'll give you the top three.

(1) Allentown has a millage rate between 100.85 and 107.87, depending on whether it's in the Parkland or Allentown school districts.

(2) Slatington has an astronomical millage rate of 92.40, thanks mostly to a 64.37 mill school tax.

(2) Easton has a combined millage rate of 88.08.

How about those poverty rates? I'll give you the top three.

(1) In Allentown, 23.9% of the population is below the poverty level, nearly 1 out of every 4 people.

(2) 20.3% of Easton's population is below the poverty level, or 1 out of every 5 people.

(3) In Slatington, 15.0% of the population is under the poverty level, including 1 out of every 2 female housholder families.

How about Bethlehem? Because the Christmas City is located in 2 different counties, there are 2 different sets of statistics. Only 1 of every 10 Lehigh County Bethlehemites is under the poverty level. But in Northampton County, it's nearly 2 out of every 10 Bethlehem residents.

It appears that the higher the taxes, the poorer the residents, even in Slatington. I don't think there was any "white flight" from that small borough.

If this is true locally, wouldn't higher taxes nationally make us poorer, too?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

balderdash

like it did under Ike, Reagan or Clinton?

Jonny Geeting said...

But, but, but...

...that goes against everything I've said over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Curley Howard said...

It's counter-intuitive, ain't it?

I liked it under Reagan. Clinton played with the SS trust fund and enjoyed the phony housing and dot com bubbles.

Any who want a return to Clinton-era tax rates, should also demand a return to Clinton-era spending (which has been quintupled by the current guy).

brenda said...

I saw the millage rate chart for Norco on the county website. Easton has an astronomical millage of 24.5 for the city, the highest in norco. Moore twp was 3mills, the lowest

Anonymous said...

Even more alarming on the study is the high vacancy rates for Allentowh, Easton, and Slatington, all are the highest in the LV. It's not flight to the suburbs. People are opting to avoid living in these communities altogether. Tax rates for Easton are higher when you look at the 1.75% earned income tax rate on top of the high millage rates

Anonymous said...

Yet again can we give Bethlehem some love? They have done the right thing by keeping taxes low until things turn around. Yes they had to use funds and borrow some to keep the ball rolling, but the reason people want to work, live and play there is because its a damn good well run city.

Seamus

Anonymous said...

You call $340 million in debt, not being able to build an EMS center, not being able to purchase a firepumper, not having enough money to purchase a police dog, laying off 54 employees, and having their credit rating lowered, all while paying the Mayor and his Dept. Heads $80K to $90K per year a "well run city"?

Anonymous said...

There is a culture in Bethlehem to keep taxes low. I think it originated from Bethlehem Steel days when a tax increase would hurt the largest employer who would take it out on employees. That culture obviously impacted the way a number of administrations juggled books and money to avoid any increases at all.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Seamus, It's hard for me to conclude that this is a basis for praising Bethlehem. 2 ot of 10 below the poverty level? Taxes still very high? Mismanagement galore?

Anonymous said...

Bernie:

You can only compare taxes by looking at actual payments, not by rates. This is because actual tax is

assessment x rate.

The assessments (and their growth) of cities pale to the assessments in the suburbs.

Be careful with your comparison.

Bernie O'Hare said...

You are correct.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:36

Let's look at your assessment argument:

Easton has a millage rate of 24.95

A property with a market value of 100,000 is assessed at 50,000-50 % rate,

Municipal Taxes are 1247.50

Forks has a millage rate of 5.60

A property with a market value of 440,000 is assessed at 220,000-50 % rate.

Municipal Taxes are 1232.00

Now, I have been around a long time and there is no property in Easton with a market value of 100,000 that compares to a property in Forks with a market value of 440,000. Elected officials have been feeding this bull for years. Face it, the city taxes are too high.

Anonymous said...

Yes I do call Bethlehem a success story. The rising from the ashes of Bethlehem steel into the vibrant city it is was nothing short of amazing.

The debt is a necessary evil till things get turned around, debt was also paid back during this time and new business and residents were added to the books. The EMS center can certainly be build, question is do you wait and do it right or rush half assed just to get something, yet again the city is doing the right thing and weighing ALL options.

The police dog would have been purchased it was not due to retire until Jan the money from Morganelli would have been earmarked. The story was blown out of proportion by Bernie. Though I am grateful he did because the good citizens yet again stood up.

As far as the layoffs go, that is a tough budget decision, the city has been working hard to lower costs and run more efficiently. Note the same people complaining about fewer workers would have complained about too many loafing workers....its a no win argument.

and last but not least....compare the salaries with any other major city in Pa. Enough said...

Seamus

Anonymous said...

I see O'Hare is allowing disparging remarks from the right. Again deleting so called remarks from the fact based side of the aisle.

Hypocrite!

Anonymous said...

Bushkill has had one tax increase in 15 years and residents may still leave doors unlocked at night.

We're all armed, of course. Guns and religion, you know.

Anonymous said...

Well good for you little fella!