EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County Council kicked off hearings Wednesday on its proposed 2025 county budget.
In Wednesday’s hearing, members of the council worked through the General Government budget, which includes the administration, fiscal, controller and other divisions, along with County Council.
One of the largest changes compared to last year’s General Government budget comes from the decision to spin off the county conservation district into an independent agency. The move removes $2.8 million of revenue and spending from the budget.
At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (Executive Director) Becky Bradley urged officials to boost the county’s contribution to LVPC’s coffers next year.
“Normally, we have joint meetings between the county executives and the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. Executive McClure declined that request, so we weren’t able to talk through some of these things."Becky Bradley
“Normally, we have joint meetings between the county executives and the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. Executive McClure declined that request, so we weren’t able to talk through some of these things,” she told the council. “We needed to bring it to you to begin that discussion.”
Bradley shared with members LVPC’s request, submitted to county officials earlier this year, for $789,125 for “core planning functions” and tasks required by law, plus roughly $361,000 of additional “optional” money for projects like next phase of the Lehigh Valley Passenger Rail Analysis.
In August, County Executive Lamont McClure said he had no intention of granting the commission’s $1.15 million ask.
The 2025 budget proposal allocates $625,000 to the LVPC, 3.3% more than the group received this year. That increase is in line with inflation, county Director of Fiscal Affairs Steve Barron said.
“We believe this is enough and sufficient for them to continue their operation,” he said.
If the county council wants to boost funding for LVPC, they would need to cut spending somewhere else under county budget rules, said Barron.
Commissioner John Goffredo told Bradley it would be a heavy lift to convince him such an increase is warranted.
“You guys are basically looking to double your budget… that’s a huge jump."Commissioner John Goffredo
“You guys are basically looking to double your budget… that’s a huge jump,” he said. “If you guys have any chance of getting it to be doubled, it’s going to have to be explained in depth.”
Bradley told the council she plans to return to a future budget hearing to again make her case for more funding.
In all, the proposed 2025 budget, introduced last week, lays out $502 million of spending while keeping taxes flat at 10.8 mills.
The next budget hearing, covering the Community and Economic Development and Human Services divisions, is scheduled for Oct. 23. A vote on adopting the budget typically takes place in December.
