UPPER MT. BETHEL TWP., Pa. — Developer property tax breaks for part of Upper Mount Bethel Township set to become an industrial park are again facing changes.
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure told the township board of supervisors Monday that county council “will be given an opportunity in the near future” to consider his changes to a Local Economic Relief Tax Assistance program that covers nearly all of Upper Mount Bethel’s industrial-zoned land.
Most of that land is set to become River Pointe Commerce Park, an 800-acre industrial complex to include more than 5.87 million square feet of building space. One planned building alone covers 1.5 million square feet.
"There is no reason any government at this time in Northampton County or in the Lehigh Valley should be using our fellow citizens' tax money to incentivize the building of purely logistic buildings."Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
The county’s current LERTA authorization grants a 10-year property tax cut to essentially anything built on the specified land, but McClure’s proposal would grant or deny tax credits for each individual project built there.
Developers could apply for the program only after final plans for their project are approved.
Fighting 'warehouse proliferation'
McClure said the changes empower the county to counter “warehouse proliferation” by denying tax cuts to warehouse projects.
“Warehouses may come here. Zoning may permit them,” he said. “But there is no reason any government at this time in Northampton County or in the Lehigh Valley should be using our fellow citizens' tax money to incentivize the building of purely logistic buildings.”
Instead, McClure said, county incentives should encourage new manufacturing facilities.
River Pointe developer Lou Pektor has long said he is working to attract manufacturers and similar high-value tenants, and does not want to build warehouses.
Learn More:
A copy of the amended legislation supplied last month does not specify what criteria the county will use to determine whether a tax exemption should be awarded; warehouses are not explicitly barred from receiving LERTA benefits.
The fundamentals of the LERTA program would remain unchanged: a participating developer pays no property taxes on the value of what they build for the project’s first year. Taxes still are due on the value of the unimproved land.
The following year, the developer pays only 10% of the assessed tax bill. Each year, it pays an additional 10% of the assessed property taxes — 20% in year three, 30% in year four, and so on.
After 10 years, property owners are responsible for taxes on the full value of the property.
Giving county new influence
If adopted, McClure’s proposal would give the county some new influence over the land development process for River Pointe, which is fundamentally controlled at the municipal level.
After asking for the Upper Mount Bethel supervisors’ support Monday, McClure asked the body to work with his administration to make similar changes to the township ordinance authorizing its part of the tax break.
McClure first circulated his proposed amendments last month, when he asked Northampton County Council to repeal the county’s part of the Upper Mt. Bethel LERTA incentives.
He pitched the repeal as temporary, with his amended legislation to quickly take its place.
The council declined, voting 5-3 to keep the LERTA program as it was.
Upper Mount Bethel Board supervisors will vote at their March 11 meeting on whether to endorse McClure’s proposal.
