After all was said and done, Northampton County decided Thursday to provide money for a hydroelectric project in its 2023 budget.
A measure shifting money from the hydroelectric project to affordable housing and employee retention projects was removed.
- Northampton County will budget $1.1 million for a hydroelectric project in Easton, the full amount County Executive Lamont McClure requested in October
- McClure vetoed plans to use about half of the project's funding for affordable housing and student loan support for employees
- County Council voted 5-4 to override the veto, falling short of the two-thirds margin needed
Budget amendments from Northampton County Council that would have stripped more than $650,000 from a hydroelectric project near Easton's Hugh More Park will not take effect.
A motion to override County Executive Lamont McClure’s veto failed during a County Council meeting Thursday, leaving the project’s more than $1.1 million of funding in 2023 intact.
The council voted 5-4 in favor of the override, falling short of the two-thirds margin necessary, sustaining the veto as a result.
In 2018, the county agreed to put up more than $1.4 million for the project, in order to make it eligible for matching funds from Pennsylvania’s Alternative and Clean Energy program that followed in 2019.
Had the override passed, the money would have been earmarked for use on new affordable housing and a program to pay county employees’ student loan debt instead.
In his vetoes, McClure defended the environmental importance of the hydroelectric project, which would provide more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours a year in carbon-free energy, according to permit filings.
He also criticized council member John Cusick’s proposal to use the money to create affordable housing and make payments towards county employees’ student loans, calling the plans “unserious.”
“Cusick had no plans,” McClure said in an interview. “I mean, this is completely a cynical political move on his part, and that's why there's no plan to it.”
“He’s trying to, quote, ‘own the libs.’ That’s all,” he said.
The council voted last week to adopt the 2023 budget. With McClure's vetos now resolved, it is set to go in to effect next year.
