Councilman on NIZ Lawsuit: 'It's Not Our Job to Fund Allentown's Dreams'

The lawsuit against , which was recently initiated by Hanover Township, Northampton County, gained another party on April 2.

Hellertown Borough Council voted 5-1 to have join in the suit, contingent upon solicitor Michael Corriere's review of the case's merits.

The suit was also recently  and Bethlehem Township.

Borough councilman Joseph Pampanin voted against joining the suit, and councilman Mike McKenna abstained from the vote.

The discussion about the lawsuit was initiated by councilman Thomas Rieger, who said he wanted to "gauge council's opinion" about the NIZ, which will divert earned income tax (EIT) revenue from local municipal coffers to the city of Allentown, if it is not overturned.

Instead of being returned to their municipalities of residence, the EIT paid by employees who work within the 85-acre, center city NIZ will help fund the cost of a hockey arena inside the zone.

Part of the frustration for municipal officials from Hellertown to Hanover Township is that it is still unclear how much EIT revenue their communities stand to lose, both initially and over the 30-year lifespan of the NIZ.

"We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in downtown Allentown," Rieger said. "I find it hard to believe we will not have any of our residents working there."

He added that he supports the lawsuit.

"I think on principle, we need to stand together on this," Rieger said.

Council vice president John Bate also voiced support for joining the suit, and said the city of Allentown needs to be told that "we're not going to sit back and allow you to take our tax money."

Bate also noted that the governing bodies of the two largest municipalities in the Lehigh Valley, after Allentown, have yet to publicly declare opposition to or support for the NIZ.

"We haven't heard anything out of Bethlehem yet and we haven't heard anything out of Easton yet," he said.

Pampanin was the only council member to question the lawsuit against the zone, and commented that "maybe it will be beneficial to the Lehigh Valley as a whole."

Asked for her opinion on the NIZ, Borough Manager Cathy Kichline said, "this is political."

"I agree that the issue here is principle," she said.

The only member of the public to comment on council's proposal to join the suit was borough resident Bob Linney, who advocated against that course of action.

"I don't want to see my tax dollars spent on some matter of principle," he said.

Rieger said he expects the lawsuit, which could still attract more parties, to be a "fast-moving" one, because "they need to have some sort of injuction before (the) bonds are issued."

"It's not our job to fund Allentown's dreams," he said.