UPPER NAZARETH TWP., Pa. — Northampton County’s next proposed budget, laying out more than $535 million in total spending, keeps taxes steady and holds operations spending relatively flat compared to last year’s proposal, officials announced Thursday.
Operations spending in the proposal, which Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure unveiled Thursday during a news conference at the county-owned Gracedale nursing home’s chapel, largely resembles operations spending in last year’s budget proposal.
Where last year’s budget proposal sets out roughly $500 million in operating budget, this year’s includes $503.7 million for operating expenses.
However, Thursday’s proposal includes updated estimates of 2025 outlays much higher than the initial budget. Compared to those estimates, the proposed 2026 budget would cut operations spending from $546 million in 2025 to $503.7 million in 2026.
Capital spending, however, will jump sharply to $31.4 million next year as the county begins work on a new parking deck at the Northampton County Government Center, upgraded first responder communications systems, and other projects funded through a recent bond issue.
The 2026 budget will be the first since the COVID-19 pandemic without any federal COVID relief grants. As a result, intergovernmental revenue — grants, loans or funding provided by the state and federal government — will drop by about $25 million.
Thursday’s budget proposal also calls for spending down about $14.5 million from the general fund balance, leaving $74 million in the account.
Officials now estimate that Northampton County will have spent nearly $544 million in 2025; by comparison, the new budget proposal would see operations spending decrease by nearly $40 million between 2025 and 2026.
Thursday’s budget introduction was McClure’s last as county executive for the foreseeable future.
After two terms in the county's top-elected job, McClure is not seeking reelection this year. Instead, he will run to represent the Lehigh Valley’s 7th Congressional District against four other Democrats — all hoping for a bid to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
