Northampton County Council adopts 2025 budget with cut in spending, no tax increase

EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County Council voted Thursday to adopt the county’s 2025 budget, which lays out $502.5 million in spending next year while keeping property tax rate the same at 10.8 mills.

It amounts to an $80 million — or roughly 13.7% — reduction in spending compared with the budget adopted for 2024.

The 2025 budget, introduced in October, includes a 4.5% raise for all non-union county employees. Despite the raises, the county expects to spend less on salaries in 2025 thanks to the departures of more tenured, higher-paid employees.

It also calls for spending nearly $12 million from the county’s stabilization fund, a pot of money on hand to deal with emergencies. The fund’s new budgeted balance, about $8 million, is just above the minimum required by county law.

Before adopting the budget, council made several amendments, but rejected the largest proposals, both of which were opposed by county Executive Lamont McClure’s administration.

The largest amendment, introduced by Commissioner John Brown, directs $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to partially fund upgrades to the countywide radio system used by first responders.

Because the administration originally requested the money to pay for agency nurses at the county-run Gracedale nursing home, McClure said he “will have to take a look at” whether to veto Brown’s amendment.

Contentious amendments gone

The adopted budget does not include, however, the two largest and most contentious amendments proposed last month, totaling $8.1 million of shifted funds.

The first, also from Brown, would have moved $5 million back into the emergency stabilization fund, requiring a spending cut equal in size.

The second, introduced by Commissioner John Goffredo, directed county administration to cut roughly 2.7% from the county’s total operations budget.

The resulting $3.1 million in savings would have funded upgrades to first responder radios.

Rather than spell out which line items would see spending reduced, both proposals required county fiscal staff to decide how to spread the cuts across programs and departments.

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, county Fiscal Affairs Director Steve Barron told the council that, because the two proposals do not specify which line items would see spending reduced, they would violate a provision in the county’s home rule charter mandating a balanced budget.

Council solicitor Christopher Spadoni disagreed, and told members that because the proposals keep total spending below total revenue, they do not run afoul of the home rule charter.

'Tell the council to go stick it'

Barron ultimately said that even if the amendments were adopted, his department would not implement them without explicit instructions of where to cut spending.

“I will not substitute my judgment” for the council’s, he said.

Members of the council who supported the amendments faulted Barron for refusing to co-operate, and ultimately decided it would be fruitless to try and make him.

“This is the body that is supposed to control the purse string," Brown said. "If this body makes a decision, it is the job of the fiscal department to implement it.

“I think it's an erroneous position for the director of fiscal to basically tell the council to go stick it.”

Other amendments from Commissioner Tom Giovanni eliminating grants for IronPigs Charities and Lehigh Valley Public Media, providing $8,000 for Bangor’s 150th anniversary celebration and creating new grants for the Bath and Columbia fire companies, complied with the rules, Barron said.

All of Giovanni’s proposals were incorporated into the adopted budget, and will not face a veto from McClure, he said.

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