{"id":141797,"date":"2026-03-18T15:45:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141797\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:45:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:45:29","slug":"parkland-school-board-members-skeptical-of-tax-break-for-eli-lilly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/141797\/","title":{"rendered":"Parkland School Board members skeptical of tax break for Eli Lilly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parkland School Board members are expressing skepticism of a proposal to grant Eli Lilly a tax break for its $3.5 billion complex under development in Upper Macungie Township<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The township already approved its portion of a proposed Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program, or LERTA, but school board members said Tuesday they needed more information from the pharmaceutical giant before agreeing to anything similar.<\/p>\n

During an informational discussion at Tuesday\u2019s board meeting, debate centered on whether the district could afford to grant a tax abatement given looming deficits and whether denying one would be against the spirit of the regional and state cooperation that drew Lilly to the area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A workshop held just prior to the full board meeting reviewed cost-cutting options for a school district budget that currently includes a $17 million deficit.<\/a> Board members acknowledged that closing that gap will likely mean further raising property taxes<\/a> and questioned whether it was wise to grant a pharmaceutical giant a tax break in that fiscal environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the risks? Is Lilly going to abandon this project because they don\u2019t want to pay school property taxes?\u201d Parkland School Board member Jon Macklin asked. \u201cI\u2019m struggling to understand what the incentive is for the Parkland School District.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macklin questioned why such a large and profitable company would need a tax break from a local school district, but he said the project will be good for the region and he expressed support for the state granting millions in incentives, including a $5 million grant that will turn Lehigh Carbon Community College into a Lilly training site.<\/p>\n

How LCCC will help train a future workforce for Eli Lilly\u2019s Lehigh Valley plant<\/a><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s LERTA program<\/a> is designed to spur development in \u201cdeteriorated areas of economically depressed communities.\u201d It requires approval from the township, county and school district to authorize tax breaks that allow land owners to delay full payment on the value of new construction.<\/p>\n

Macklin questioned whether the Upper Macungie location where Lilly plans to build even qualifies as a \u201cdeteriorated area,\u201d asking district solicitors if they thought the land \u201ctruly qualifies under the spirit of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

District Solicitor Jessica Moyer said that legal determination was the township\u2019s responsibility and reminded the board the township has already approved LERTA boundaries for the parcel Lilly intends to develop.<\/p>\n

The idea behind LERTA is to encourage companies to build by allowing them to delay paying taxes on the full value of developed property. Throughout the process, the land owner continues to pay the full land tax, which means the Parkland School District would continue to bring in the same amount of tax revenue the parcel was already generating.<\/p>\n

The district would, however, forgo portions of the higher payments that would be due if Lilly was required to pay taxes on the full property value, which will rise as its plant is constructed.<\/p>\n

Upper Macungie Township commissioners have approved the tax break, which would go into effect when construction is complete and last for 10 years. It has yet to be voted upon by the Parkland School Board or Lehigh County commissioners, which also must give the OK.<\/p>\n

Lilly\u2019s plans for the site, located just west of Fogelsville between Interstate 78 and Old Route 22, will be discussed at the\u00a0Upper Macungie Planning Commission meeting Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

The school district\u2019s solicitors reviewed the township\u2019s LERTA proposal Tuesday night and then explained to board members what their own options are<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The school district could grant a LERTA that lasts for less time and it could also adjust the payment schedule. Under Upper Macungie\u2019s proposal, the tax exemption decreases by 10% each year, and Lilly would assume full tax responsibility on year 11 post-construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to work these numbers,\u201d Parkland School Board Vice President Chris Pirrotta said, requesting a future workshop meeting in which the full board could review their options.<\/p>\n

Parkland Superintendent Mark Madson also requested more information, saying he\u2019d like to see estimates of how much tax revenue the district could receive under various versions of a LERTA.<\/p>\n

Madson and Parkland School Board President David Hein said that accurate revenue projections could be difficult to generate considering there aren\u2019t local projects of comparable size to Lilly\u2019s $3.5 billion investment plan. LERTA requests have been rare for the Parkland School District, Hein said, noting that he has not seen one in his 13 years on the board.<\/p>\n

Hein called Lilly\u2019s investment a \u201conce-in-a-generation opportunity\u201d that will require \u201cgive and take on both sides.\u201d He said it\u2019s yet to be determined how a Lilly foundation might contribute to the school district.<\/p>\n

Both Pirrotta and Macklin said they\u2019d like more clarity on who exactly is asking the school district to grant Lilly a LERTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surprising that it\u2019s being asked,\u201d Pirrotta said.<\/p>\n

The presentation from district solicitor King Spry<\/a> listed current LERTAs in other nearby school districts, including two in the Bethlehem Area School District, one in the East Penn School District and one in the Easton Area School District. The presentation also noted that the State College Area School District denied its portion of a LERTA approved by State College and Centre County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parkland School Board members are expressing skepticism of a proposal to grant Eli Lilly a tax break for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,227,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-141797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-education","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141797","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=141797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}