Lower Mac Commissioners Support Costco Tax Breaks

The Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners at its Thursday night meeting gave the proposed Hamilton Crossings shopping mall a pretty definitive thumbs up, or rather five thumbs up, when the board unanimously voted to ask the Lehigh County Commissioners to help make the project – and the much-talked about Costco store it will bring to the Lehigh Valley -- a reality.

The Lehigh County Commissioners are expected to vote Wednesday on the controversial Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan being proposed as a way to fund the $140 million development project on 63 acres along Krocks Road in Lower Macungie Township.

According to The Morning Call, the Lower Mac commissioners voted 5-0 to send their county counterparts a letter expressing their support for the project to be signed by all five Lower Mac board members. In the letter, the Morning Call says, the township commissioners intend to ask the county commissioners to approve the TIF plan. 

The township commissioners originally expected to vote on the TIF plan at Thursday’s meeting, but they were unable to do so because the county commissioners have not yet approved the project. The Lower Macungie Township vote cannot precede the county vote and the Lehigh County Commissioners have tabled the TIF decision twice.  

The East Penn Board of School Directors has already approved the TIF. The Lower Mac BOC is the third and final taxing body that needs to approve the TIF for it to move forward.

According to the way the TIF will work if ultimately approved, the government bodies that will benefit from the tax revenue generated by Hamilton Crossings –East Penn School District and Lehigh County – agree to forgo a portion of those tax dollars for a set time period to help the developer pay for whatever bonds or loans are needed to bankroll the project to get it off the ground.