BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Bethlehem City Council unanimously adopted a 2023 budget Tuesday night in its last meeting of the year.
- Bethlehem's city council voted unanimously to adopt the 2023 budget
- The new budget keeps taxes at the same rate as in 2022
- Tuesday night's meeting is the council's last for the year
After hours of hearings and questions since the proposed budget was introduced, members approved it without much further discussion.
The adopted budget keeps property tax rates the same as in 2022: 6.05 mills for parts of the city in Lehigh County and 19.14 mills for those in Northampton. The difference in rates accounts for differences in how the two counties assess a property’s value.
It also allocates more than $16 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds, including $2 million to build a new emergency homeless shelter and $5 million for affordable housing – both new line items this year.
That leaves roughly $11 million from ARPA to spend in 2024 and 2025.
When Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds in November introduced the budget, he said his budget emphasizes paying for sustainable expenses with sustainable revenues.
During public comment at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, several residents and members of the council took time to express their support for the city’s Jewish community in the aftermath of recent antisemitic incidents, including comments at city council meetings this month.
"For the wider audience at home, I'd like to give an invitation: an invitation to know your neighbor, an invitation to engage in constructive, respectful dialogue with those that are different from you."Janine Santoro, director of equity and inclusion for the City of Bethlehem
"I'm not speaking just as the director of equity and inclusion for the city, which most of you might know me as," Janine Santoro told the gathering. "I'm just saying this as Janine, as a wife, a mother, an elder in the Presbyterian church, someone of Puerto Rican, French and German descent."
"For the wider audience at home, I'd like to give an invitation: an invitation to know your neighbor, an invitation to engage in constructive, respectful dialogue with those that are different from you. An invitation to participate in our authorities, our boards and commissions of the city, to reach communal solutions that can reduce harm and make our city great."
