A Tale of Two TIFS

Lower Macungie Township and Weissenberg Township have a lot in common.  They are both suburban Lehigh County communities separated by less than ten miles.   Both communities have also considered passing a Tax Increment Financing plan or (TIF) but with very different reactions.

In 2011 three governing bodies were asked to forfeit half of their new project revenue over 20 years ($24.6 million) to help fund the development of the West Hills Business Center.   The project apparently had some extraordinary costs due to the need to expand and improve wastewater treatment and the need for bridge repairs.  In return, the developer promised between 500-1500 new jobs and a new infusion of new tax revenue for each governing body.  Apparently, there was absolutely no opposition to this particular plan.  The Northwestern Lehigh School Directors and Lehigh County Commissioners approved the TIF unanimously.  The night the TIF was voted in Lehigh County not a single public comment opposing the project was made.  The comments by those involved included “Public private partnership” and “win win” while nobody spoke of corporate welfare or accused the Texas developer of not really needing the help. 

Fast forward to Lower Macungie Township 2014 where the passage of the TIF has broken out into a full community debate filled with passion and finger pointing.  Signs, mailers and a website have been designed encouraging people to “Stiff the TIF” and say no to corporate welfare.   So how different are the two TIF proposals?  It would appear they are basically the same.   The developers of Hamilton Crossings requested Lehigh County, the East Penn School District and Lower Macungie Township forfeit half of their new property tax revenue for 20 years due to the extraordinary costs: $12.4 million in mine wash remediation, $11 million in road improvements, $ 4.1 million in flood control and just under $1 million utility for upgrades in exchange for the creation of roughly 425 construction jobs, 923 permanent jobs and new tax revenue.  Opponents of the TIF claim the request is an elaborate bluff and that the developers will pay for everything if the TIF is rejected.  Indeed, Lehigh County did reject participation on the TIF by a vote of 5-3 and the East Penn school board narrowly approved participation 5-4. 

The fate of the TIF and the Hamilton Crossings Project comes down to the Lower Macungie Township Commissioners.   This coming Thursday evening June 5th the final vote will be made.  One has to wonder what the folks out in Weissenberg Township think about all of this noise being made by their passionate neighbors just down the road.