ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners, on Wednesday, introduced a measure that would require annual reporting from the county assessment office.<\/p>\n
The annual report would \u201cassist the board in evaluating and understanding the overall condition of the County tax base,\u201d according to county documents.<\/p>\n
What it doesn\u2019t do is call for a reassessment, officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ordinance does not call for a reassessment and does not presume one to be necessary,\u201d said Commissioner Ron Beitler.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe data is not telling us we need a reassessment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A reassessment formally reviews the taxable value of real estate to ensure taxes reflect current fair market values. Lehigh County last conducted one in 2012.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the measure states, \u201cthe annual report shall be informational in nature and shall not mandate or presume the need, desire, or intention for a countywide reassessment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, it amends the county administrative code to require the report\u2019s submission, which is designed to provide current information to support the Board\u2019s oversight of the Assessment Office with long-range planning.<\/p>\n
Board of Commissioners Chair Geoff Brace called the measure a \u201cdemonstration of us doing our due diligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday marked the first reading of the measure, which will be up for a vote at the body\u2019s next meeting on March 25.<\/p>\n
In other news, the Board of Commissioners had a first reading of a measure that allows the county to reallocate $10 million in unused funds for two projects.<\/p>\n
According to Commissioner Sarah Fevig, the money came from a bond taken out by the county for other purposes, specifically the county\u2019s 911 project. Fevig said not all that money was used, so the county had options to return it or use it for projects.<\/p>\n
The measure amends a 2023 bond measure and expands the allowable uses of the bond proceeds to include $5 million for capital improvements at Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehabilitation Center and $5 million for upgrades to the industrial pretreatment plant operated by the Lehigh County Authority.<\/p>\n
According to the Authority, the pretreatment plant in Fogelsville is designed to remove much of the biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids contributed by several local industries prior to discharge to the Western Lehigh Interceptor system for final treatment in Allentown.<\/p>\n
LCA operates the wastewater system that serves 15 municipalities in western and central Lehigh County. Through a network of wastewater interceptors and pump stations, along with the help of gravity, the regional system transports wastewater to the City of Allentown for final treatment at the Kline\u2019s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere could be some really bad ramifications on our area in terms of jobs and economic loss if this investment isn’t made in this (pretreatment) plant,\u201d Fevig said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Jon Irons said he supports the reallocation and hopes it inspires additional contributions to support the infrastructure work, which will need a significant investment in the years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur $5 million goes a long way, and I hope it’s seen as, a gesture of leadership for other municipalities to be prepared to pony up some money if they have the opportunity to reallocate their own bonds or find other meaningful ways to contribute to this, because it’s going to have to be a regional effort from municipalities across the county to support this,\u201d Irons said.<\/p>\n
The amendment does not affect the 2023 series general obligation bond total and keeps the total authorized borrowing unchanged.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Antonio Pineda said infrastructure work is an inevitability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntrastructure isn\u2019t forever; it\u2019s going to have needs, it\u2019s going to eventually need renovations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The measure will have a second reading on March 25.<\/p>\n
The commissioners also conducted a first reading of an ordinance authorizing a subgrant of up to $1.5 million to the Bethlehem Area School District using funds from Pennsylvania\u2019s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The funding will support the reconstruction of Fountain Hill Elementary School in Fountain Hill, with the county acting as the grant conduit for the state award.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always good to see that the county can get out of the box thinking to allow an educational institution to get what they need to improve; it\u2019s a no-brainer,\u201d said Commissioner April Riddick.<\/p>\n
In other business, the commissioners approved a series of appointments on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Amy Beck was reappointed to the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority with a term to expire March 1, 2031. Charlene Smalls was appointed to the Mental Health\/Intellectual Disabilities Board with a term expiring Dec. 31, 2028.<\/p>\n
Ryan Mayberry and Sharon Fehlinger-Ricker were appointed to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission with terms expiring Dec. 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2013 The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners, on Wednesday, introduced a measure that would require annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,20633,62928,1412,62930,4361,62931,42702,9579,9570,62929,53451,9571,62927,62926],"class_list":["post-136550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-antonio-pineda","tag-april-riddick","tag-bethlehem-area-school-district","tag-cedarbrook-senior-care-and-rehabilitation-center","tag-commissioner","tag-county-assessment-office","tag-fountain-hill-elementary-school","tag-geoff-brace","tag-jon-irons","tag-klines-island-wastewater-treatment-plant","tag-mental-health-intellectual-disabilities-board","tag-ron-beitler","tag-sharon-fehlinger-ricker","tag-wastewater-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}