NorCo Council Approves Next Year's Budget With No Tax Hike.

Northampton County Council voted last night to approve a no tax hike budget for next year. It was supported by Council members John Cusick, Tom Giovanni, John Goffredo, Lori Vargo Heffner, Kerry Myers and Ron Heckman. The sole No vote came from Council member Tara Zrinski, who opposed Council's amendments although she was absent from the meeting at which they were adopted.  Council member Kevin Lott, whose term expires at the end of the year, was a no-show. 

The current 10.8 mill tax rate remains the same. This means that a home assessed at $75,000 will receive a tax bill next year for $810. Three years ago, that same home would have seen a $885 tax bill. The budget is also balanced, which is a requirement of the Home Rule Charter. 

In his six years as Executive, Lamont McClure has never proposed a tax hike. Three years ago, he proposed and Council accepted a budget that slightly cut taxes. 

The spending plan invests $3 million in open space in accordance with a 2002 referendum overwhelmingly embraced by the voters to preserve farmland, protect environmentally sensitive land and maintain municipal parks. McClure hopes this investment will "slow warehouse growth." He added that he wants to "limit new development, not give it tax breaks ... ."

The budget fully funds health carte benefits for county employees even though those costs have increased dramatically with the pandemic. He dipped into the fund balance to fund health care. Unfortunately, the out-of-pocket expenses of  career service county employees will increase. McClure indicated he had hoped to reduce them, but County Council refused to fund his proposed employee health center.  He claims this "would have saved significantly on health care costs."  

As far as Gracedale is concerned, a nursing home has never been considered a core county function. But McClure refers to it as a "moral obligation, and boy, have we learned the meaning of moral obligation."  Gracedale is fully funded with no need for a county contribution in 2024. 

At its final budget hearing, Council considered and adopted a number of budget amendments to award grants to several nonprofits, mostly fire companies, who had either been denied or had never even applied. It approved a $500,000 student loan program to attract or retain employees. Zrinski and Goffredo attempted to remove the student loan program, but were unsuccessful. Zrinski voted against all budget amendments as well as the budget itself. The other seven Council members voted yes.