Northampton County executive addresses Gracedale, affordable housing plans

Encouraging more affordable housing, increasing revenue, and expanding and improving Gracedale nursing home were among the topics Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski highlighted in her first State of the County address.

Dlected in 2025 as the first woman to hold the position of county executive, Zrinski delivered her address to a packed house Wednesday at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, and outlined her goals for Northampton County.

Here are the key takeaways from her speech.

Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski speaks Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during her first State of the County address at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. Zrinski unveiled a plan for a Gracedale nursing home campus, with a new 700-bed skilled nursing facility, dialysis center, workforce housing and retail area. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

The acoustic duo Twelve String performs on Wednesday June 24, 2026, before Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski’s first State of the County address at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. Zrinski unveiled a plan for a Gracedale nursing home campus, with a new 700-bed skilled nursing facility, dialysis center, workforce housing and retail area. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

David Ruth, President, Northampton Community College speaks Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski’s first State of the County address at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. Zrinski unveiled a plan for a Gracedale nursing home campus, with a new 700-bed skilled nursing facility, dialysis center, workforce housing and retail area. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. mingles Wednesday, June 24, 2026, during Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski’s first State of the County address at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem. Zrinski unveiled a plan for a Gracedale nursing home campus, with a new 700-bed skilled nursing facility, dialysis center, workforce housing and retail area. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)

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Will Northampton County reassess property values?

Northampton County’s budget in recent years has been noteworthy for not including a property tax increase in the past eight years.

Zrinski said while she was proud of the streak as a show of Northampton County’s willingness to balance its finances “with discipline, with transparency and with intention,” she believes keeping the milage stable will ultimately not be to the county’s benefit.

“There will be a time when discipline and intentions won’t be enough to balance the budget with the health and safety of the community in mind,” she said.

Zrinski said a potential solution to ensure the property tax millage remains unchanged would be to reassess Northampton County’s current property values, something that hasn’t occurred since 1995.

Zrinski said she and her administration are ready to work on conducting a new property tax reassessment to ensure the tax burdens of Northampton County residents are fairly measured.

“The tax burden has not kept pace. That means that new residential and commercial properties are assessed through a formula reflecting the values of 1995 and that’s a conversation this county will have to have,” Zrinski said. “This administration is committed to having it honestly, openly, and with a long-term interest of residents in mind. The choices that made eight consecutive years without tax increase possible are now the same choices we have to revisit and I’m ready to work.”

Addressing affordable housing

Zrinski said she remains focused on the lack of affordable housing in the county.

According to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, there is a shortage of 9,000 housing units regionwide.

This figure is expected to grow as more people and companies such as pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. continue to move into the area.

“This deficit forces higher-income individuals into units that would otherwise be attainable for working families,” Zrinski said. “Instead, we have that population of people paying almost 40 percent of their rent from [their] income. That’s not sustainable; that’s a crisis for working families and it’s a priority for this administration.”

Zrinski said her administration will work to increase access to housing in Northampton County, which she said will help stabilize families and help them build generational wealth.

“This administration’s priority is clear: We’re going to work with builders, philanthropists and service providers to increase access to housing,” she said. “That means zoning reform. That means public-private partnerships. That means doing the hard, unglamorous work of expanding the housing supply so that everyone who wants to plant roots in Northampton County can, so they can afford to do so.”

Zrinski said her efforts to combat housing affordability would also take into account existing work to preserve Northampton County’s open spaces and farmland.

“The question is no longer whether Northampton County will grow. The question now is how to balance logistics, housing, entrepreneurship and infrastructure investments in a way that preserves the quality of life that made all this growth possible in the first place,” she said. “This administration has a clear answer to that question: We do it with discipline. We do it with transparency. We do it with intention and with the people of the county at the center of every single decision.”

Future plans for Gracedale

The management of Gracedale nursing home, has been a point of concern as funding issues and safety incidents have caused the county-run facility to be placed on a six-month provisional license by the state and its Medicare rating downgraded to one star.

Zrinski said she intends to continue to have Gracedale remain under county control, an announcement which received applause from attendees, while also working to fix the issues currently plaguing the facility.

“There will be no privatization on this administration’s watch,” Zrinski said. “Gracedale belongs to the people of Northampton County and it will remain so by increasing oversight, accountability and stability for residents. The people who live at Gracedale deserve to know that their care is the county’s highest priority.”

Zrinski said a new department will be created whose director will oversee operations of the Gracedale campus, and a deputy director will focus on public outreach and communication.

Zrinski said Gracedale also will undergo a multi-million dollar expansion that will add a 688-bed medical facility and dialysis center meant to reduce medical travel expenses, along with workforce housing and a retail center.

Zrinski said such a development would also allow for Gracedale to begin weaning off its dependency for agency nurses.

“This is a systematic approach to fixing Gracedale and it’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of approach,” Zrinski said. “It’s not gonna be easy, but it will make Gracedale a powerful symbol called that service across generations and not a burden to be managed, but a legacy to be honored.”

Improving county services

Zrinski highlighted several actions the county has taken over the past year:

On March 24, Zrinski signed into law a Northampton County Human Relations ordinance, which established a human relations commission in compliance with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Pop-up voter services were established prior to the May 19 primary elections, which Zrinski said led to an increase in turnout through expanded access for voters facing transportation or scheduling barriers, increased community engagement and reduced congestion at the elections office and ballot drop box locations.

“Democracy only works when people can participate,” Zrinski said. “This administration is committed to removing every one of those barriers for everyone that we can.”

Zrinski also said her administration also plans to form partnerships with organizations that help seniors living in Northampton County and create a new task force, “Neighbors in Need,” to assist in combatting reductions in state funding which led to the announced closure of two senior centers.

Zrinski said reforms would also be made to Northampton County’s correctional institutions, following the prison’s health care provider, PrimeCare Medical, paying more than half a million dollars to settle two federal lawsuits by the estates of men who died by suicide after being removed from the jail’s suicide watchlist.

“I just want to say we have to be careful not to assume that every tragedy is the result of negligence or that it could have been wholly prevented by any one person or system,” Zrinski said. “We are reviewing each of these incidents thoroughly and will strengthen intake screening.”

Zrinski said the county would continue to train correctional staff and evaluate additional precautions to better care for inmates while also preparing them for a future beyond being behind bars.

Zrinski pointed to the launching of the Pathways to the Future program through partnering with Northampton Community College and the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute to provide incarcerated individuals reenter the workforce through providing hands-on education and career resources. Eleven people have graduated and 14 more are expected to begin the program in the next week.

“We’re trying to give hope to individuals in our prison system, where cumulative justice has reigned for hundreds of years. We have to change that culture,’ Zrinski said. “Incarceration that doesn’t lead to a better path, is not Justice. It is a revolving door.”

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