IronPigs fund request cut in half
Northampton County Council sets aside $100,000 in 2023 budget
Northampton County Council voted Thursday night to give the Lehigh Valley IronPigs $100,000 from the 2023 budget, half of what the team requested to help complete stadium upgrades demanded by Major League Baseball.
Before the vote on the $548.3 million spending plan the IronPigs’ funding request came under fire from some of the nine council members who asked why Northampton County should support a team based in Lehigh County playing at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.
However, IronPigs General Manager Kurt Landes said council should consider that although the stadium is in Allentown, the team is an economic benefit to the entire Lehigh Valley.
“In the team’s 14 seasons it drew 3.3 million fans with 41% coming from Northampton County ... we feel strongly we are a regional asset,” Landes said.
The IronPigs must make $9.5 million in stadium improvements required by MLB, which will include larger clubhouses, coaches’ offices, training rooms, weight rooms, kitchen and storage areas for both teams — plus a women’s locker room.
The original cost was $6 million, but ballooned to $9.5 million due to inflation, Lehigh County officials have said.
Allentown City Council voted in October to deny the team’s request for $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds for those upgrades. Lehigh County has committed $4.5 million toward the project, the state has committed $2 million and the IronPigs have committed $1.5 million.
The IronPigs funding came into question in Northampton County Tuesday at a 2023 budget amendment meeting where several council members expressed skepticism and a majority voted to cut the funding altogether. Some of the skepticism arose because of Allentown City Council’s rejection, reasoning that if the city where the team is located does not want to chip in, Northampton County should not either.
Northampton County Council also cut roughly in half a $1.1 million funding request from New England Hydropower Co., the company behind proposals to build three hydroelectric plants along the Lehigh Canal in Easton and Allentown, and the Delaware Canal in Williams Township.
Commissioner John Cusick was among the board members who expressed little confidence in the electric plants, characterizing them as “a nice education project but county taxpayers should not be venture capitalists. The money could be better spent on other things like farmland preservation.’’
Commissioner Tara Zrinski said abandoning the project would be an irresponsible breach of a contract the county ratified with New England Hydropower several years ago.
Commissioner Kerry Myers said the money is a loan with numerous benefits beyond electricity.
‘’We get a dam (on the canal) that will be maintained for 75 years, the canal will be maintained, there will be dry dock for the barge. We’re getting a lot for a loan and this is not corporate welfare,’’ he said.
The $10 million hydroelectric project would cut a trough through the canal near Lock 47, also known as the Abbot Street lock. That trough would drive turbines and the water would be discharged into the Lehigh River. The river-fed canal provides a steadier supply of water compared to the river. The electricity would be fed from distribution lines going from the dam to nearby transmission towers.
The new budget includes a tax rate of 10.8 mills the same as last year when the county reduced the rate from 11.8 to 10.8 mills. Under the 10.8 millage rate, a property with an assessed value of $100,000 would have a yearly tax bill of $1,080.
County Executive Lamont McClure praised the spending plan as one that was a collaborative effort.
‘’This is how we work together and fund our core responsibilities . . . I couldn’t be happier with the product we produced,’’ he said.
Myers noted that the ability to reduce the rate was partly the result of an increase in the county’s tax base. McClure agreed and said, “It wasn’t the primary reason but it helped.”
The budget also sets aside $347,000 to go toward affordable housing projects, $62,500 for The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Foundation to promote tourism in Bethlehem and $20,000 for the borough of Bath to help prepare a master plan for the borough’s parks.
Bath Mayor Fiorella Mirabito requested $50,000 for the master plan. “It seems they always forget about the little guy,” she said calling the $20,000 allocation “an embarrassment.”