Wednesday, April 18, 2012
South Whitehall is the first municipality in Lehigh County to announce it will join a lawsuit over the state law that diverts tax money from surrounding areas to the Allentown hockey arena project.
South Whitehall commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday night to join the legal fight over a state law that funnels earned income tax to the construction of a $158 million hockey arena in downtown Allentown. In doing so, the township becomes the first municipality in Lehigh County to announce it will join the lawsuit, brought by Hanover and Bethlehem townships. In all, seven Northampton County municipalities are so far supporting the challenge, according to Lehigh Valley Ramblings. Those attending the commissioners' meeting erupted in applause at the vote. Township officials say they have two concerns: Commissioner Chairman Tori Morgan said the vote does not mean that South Whitehall doesn't support the Allentown hockey arena and the …
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South Whitehall Township Administrative Offices
4444 Walbert Ave., South Whitehall, Pa
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School district won’t hear until June how much tax revenue it will lose to Allentown hockey project.
Parkland School District won’t know how much tax revenue it could lose to Allentown’s new Neighborhood Improvement Zone until just days before the district expects to pass its budget. Parkland is already facing an $853,000 budget gap for the 2012-2013 year and that could grow as Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, or NIZ, gets to keep earned income taxes from Parkland residents who work at jobs within the zone. The NIZ was created to help fund the city’s new hockey arena and redevelop other areas downtown and on its waterfront. That special tax incentive zone is expected to divert an estimated $550,000 in earned income taxes from surrounding municipalities and school districts, but no breakdown of cost for each municipality is …
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Parkland School District Administration Center
1210 Springhouse Rd, Allentown, PA
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Thursday, April 12, 2012
South Whitehall says it will soon take an official position on the issues surrounding Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone for the new arena.
Concerned with the potential impact on township revenues, South Whitehall officials are planning to soon take an official position on the issues surrounding Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone for a new hockey arena. Township Manager Jon Hammer would not say Thursday afternoon whether the township will join a lawsuit filed against the project by Hanover and Bethlehem townships. However, he said any official action would be taken by township commissioners, and that action could come as early as the commissioners' next public meeting, on Wednesday, April 18. A prepared statement released Thursday by Hammer indicated the township's frustration with the special tax incentive zone that was set up to help Allentown build the hockey arena …
40.6121
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South Whitehall Township Administrative Offices
4444 Walbert Ave., South Whitehall, Pa
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
South Whitehall Manager Jon Hammer wants to know whether a study was done on the impact of Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone on municipalities. If not, why not?
Editor's note: This article corrects Mike Faccinetto's position as Bethlehem School Board president. South Whitehall officials are looking into the potential impact of Allentown's Neighborhood Improvement Zone on the township, following reports that all non-property taxes collected in the zone's 130 acres will finance construction of the new downtown hockey arena. Township Manager Jon Hammer said Monday that he and two other township managers will meet in two weeks with state Sen. Pat Browne on the issue. They want to know: Was any study done on the impact of the zone on muncipalities, prior to its state authorization in 2009? The NIZ has created a firestorm as local municipal officials recently came to realize they will lose earned …
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South Whitehall Township Administrative Offices
4444 Walbert Ave., South Whitehall, Pa
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SWT Resident
11:32 am on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Its a frivolous waste to not set a precedence to fight or this entire Commonwealth will be nothing more than one overlay of overlapping NIZ's with surrounding communities supporting inner city wastelands that can't stand on their own two feet. Let us not forget the Allentown Mayor's over years past that accepted federal section 8 housing money with little to no income from the people who ran to … more ›