March 18, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Northampton County Council will hold a public hearing tomorrow on creating a Human Relations Commission, and ponder a big tax break for development at the old Dixie Cup plant in Wilson Borough.
The Human Relations Commission looks like a nice idea, designed to protect people against discrimination of all kinds, but are there not other avenues to do this already? If created, the commission would have seven appointed members to look into complaints.
Government should be careful about expanding, especially when finances are tight and the county may be opening the door to a lot of problems. Guaranteeing fair treatment sounds good but the county has gotten by without an “HRC” and nobody has demonstrated a compelling need for one.
Nor is a commission going to correct all the wrongs of the world. Lehigh County has such a commission, and yet still has problems.
The ordinance is so broad that it probably includes just about everybody in the county in one class or other. I’m pretty sure I’m covered somewhere, though I didn’t read the whole thing. It even delves into genetic information.
Of course, while I don’t see a need, there are always people eager to expand government.
Also up tomorrow night is the first reading, not a final vote, on a Tax Increment Finance district for the Dixie Cup plant in Wilson Borough. Skyline Development has proposed turning the old factory into about 400 apartments. The tax break, known as a TIF, would allow the developer to use money that would go to taxing bodies — the borough, the Wilson Area School District and the county — instead to be used for the project.
That could add up to more than $20 million. Taxes would be paid on the property as it is now, just not on improvements for as long as 20 years.
The county will hold a public hearing on the TIF on April 16, with a vote possible as early as May 7. Last year, County Council shot down the TIF but elections have changed the roster.
TIFs and other tax breaks are designed to spur investment in blighted properties but they also put taxpayers’ money into developers’ pockets.
The Borough of Wilson and the Wilson Area School District support the tax break.
If it’s approved in May, I hope the developer’s plan to save the weathered cup on top of the building is dropped. It’s a waste of money on a big ugly decaying piece of junk.
Northampton County Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, in council chambers on the third floor of the government center in Easton. The meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast on the Internet.
Here is a link to meeting agendas, and here is a page with links to agenda items.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 