EASTON, Pa. — As promised, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure on Tuesday vetoed extended developer tax breaks in Upper Mt. Bethel Township, as he seeks to negotiate restrictions on what kind of development to which the incentives apply.
- Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure vetoed an extension of LERTA tax breaks for part of Upper Mt. Bethel Township
- County Council last week voted 6-3 to pass the controversial measure
- McClure seeks to negotiate with a developer planning a massive industrial park in the LERTA district to exclude warehouses from tax breaks
Last week, the county council approved a controversial five-year extension to a Local Economic Relief Tax Assistance district covering much of the township’s industrial-zoned land.
The tax breaks, previously approved in 2018 and otherwise set to expire, exempt developments of designated “deteriorated” properties from part of assessed property taxes.
Much of the land covered by the Upper Mt. Bethel LERTA district is set to become River Pointe Commerce Park, a massive industrial park to include buildings over 500,000 square feet.
Developer Lou Pektor, of Bethlehem, said he intends the complex to house large-scale manufacturing and is courting “international” companies drawn to the site by rail access, proximity to highways and access to ample electricity.
'Massive tax-subsidized warehouses'
Some township residents are concerned the development would become massive tax-subsidized warehouses, which virtually everyone involved agreed they didn’t want.
“We should not be incentivizing warehouse construction with tax breaks. Instead, we should be incentivizing the creation of manufacturing jobs.”Northampton County Executive Lamont MClure
“We should not be incentivizing warehouse construction with tax breaks,” McClure wrote in his veto. “Instead we should be incentivizing the creation of manufacturing jobs.”
Amid the opposition and conflict, McClure proposed a compromise: table the extension and let him negotiate with Pektor to exclude warehouses from tax breaks.
McClure told the council that if it passed the measure, he would veto it.
Council rejected his compromise, along with another measure from Commissioner John Cusick that would have shrunk the area covered by the LERTA district to exclude River Pointe.
Instead, council members voted 6-3 to pass the measure as-is, suggesting the body may have enough votes to override McClure’s veto.
The township’s Board of Supervisors and Bangor Area School District previously approved the LERTA extension, leaving the county council as the last body that needs to sign off.
