Nov. 2, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski’s request for a 44% property-tax increase has angered taxpayers and had political repercussions.
Some former allies are now opponents and the proposed increase is being held against Democrats on County Council, even though they have no input until the plan is presented.
Now Bernie O’Hare’s Lehigh Valley Ramblings blog, the top source of information on county government, has published an email exchange involving Zrinski and her administration that leaves me (a taxpayer) pleading for an adult to take charge of things at 669 Washington St. in Easton.
Here’s a link to today’s Lehigh Valley Ramblings post:
https://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2026/11/norco-administrator-mark-aurand-insults.html?m=1
Perhaps the adult in the room would be for council to ask Lamont McClure to advise them on areas to reduce this bizarre budget increase.
His editorial in the MC this weekend appeared to be very forthright & I truly believe that the people doing this budget have no idea what they are doing. Sounds like they forgot that they have borrowing capacity for selected budget items they are not using.
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There are some good people in the administration, I think most on council respect the acting fiscal director and the public works director, maybe some of the others.
Gracedale remains a huge problem.
Northampton County needs an administrator who is an internal ass-kicker and an external communicator. I don’t know if they have that person.
The unforced errors are piling up fast.
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“Sounds like they forgot that they have borrowing capacity for selected budget items they are not using.”
Hi Bruce,
I posed that question at one of the budget hearings. I asked if there had been any consideration given to using a bond to pay for some of the increases in the budget — things the administration felt had been underfunded in prior years. The response was that they felt there was very little in the expenditures they could pay for with a bond and so it wouldn’t be worth the overhead cost. I’m not entirely sure I agree, but that was their answer.
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One of the worst mistakes a county (or municipal) government could make is to float debt for operating expenses. The email exchange is cringy. Tara alienates in her response when she should be working hard to get to the goal line. If a council wants to ask for data to support their vote for a budget, that is what you get, and you don’t get upset. Executives who behave if council/commissioners are too dimwitted to understating the complexity of the budgeting process, and bristle at allocation questions, deserve the increased scrutiny. Too many boring budget presentations go unchallenged, because the executives present it as a fait accompli. Good for the commissioners for getting gritty.
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