Easton invests millions across trash pickup, firehouses, garage, pensions ahead of ‘24 budget release
Easton has a new trash and recycling curbside collection contractor. They are investing in Easten’s firehouses and South Third Street parking deck, and will cover the pensions owed to former employees.
Altogether, it’s costing millions. The city council agreed to the spending on Wednesday five days before Mayor Sal Panto Jr. is set to reveal his proposed 2024 budget.
The budget presentation is set to be live-streamed at easton-pa.com at noon Monday from council chambers in City Hall, 123 S. Third St. The 2023 budget approved by council at $72.2 million marked the 15th straight year of keeping real estate taxes and sewer fees unchanged. Easton’s 2023 property tax rate of 24.95 mills is the highest municipal property tax rate in Northampton County. A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 of property assessment — a property assessed for taxation at $50,000 generated a city tax bill this year of $1,247.50.
Most of the spending approved Wednesday will factor into next year’s budget, beginning with the new curbside collection contract for garbage and recycling. Whitetail Disposal Inc. based in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania, won the $2,422,394 contract effective Jan. 1, 2024. It’s in effect for three years, with the option to mutually agree to renew the contract for three successive one-year terms.
The city council on Sept. 13 approved a three-year agreement with Waste Connections Inc. for trash disposal at the Bethlehem Landfill in Lower Saucon Township at a cost of $59.50 per ton, and a three-year agreement with WM (Waste Management) for the processing and marketing of the city’s recyclable materials at a cost of $145 per ton. Both of these contracts also begin on Jan. 1.
Panto over the summer had warned about an increase in the new trash contract, with its impact on residents expected to be released as part of Monday’s budget presentation.
Also factoring into the 2024 budget will be nearly $8 million in what are known as minimum municipal obligations to cover annual pension costs. The council approved spending $7,387,063 for city-managed pension funds breaking down as $4,374,139 for police, $2,573,345 for fire, and $439,579 for other officers and employees. In addition, council approved $586,964 for the city’s 2024 minimum municipal obligation to cover its pension funds managed by the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System.
In other spending approved Wednesday night, Easton is investing $189,757 in a contract with Flash Parking to install new parking equipment at the intermodal garage behind City Hall along South Third Street. It’ll replace technology that requires motorists to pay for their parking session when they arrive, and to have their license place facing out so enforcement agents can ensure each space that is in use is paid for.
The new system will mirror that of the new Fourth Street Garage, in which motorists get a ticket and pay when they leave.
The council agreed to invest nearly $400,000 in the Central and South Side fire stations. A $355,750 contract approved with Allentown-based Blair Contracting is for the replacement of the roof at the Central Fire Station on South Sixth Street; a $28,150 contract with H.T. Lyons, of Allentown, is for the replacement of rooftop heating/cooling units at Central; and a $13,800 contract with Alloy5 Architecture in Bethlehem is to review the South Side Fire Station in advance of a future modernization project.
Council members also approved a $207,890 proposal from Insituform Technologies LLC, based in Chesterfield, Missouri, for sewer-lining in areas of Canal, Sixth and Pearl streets and the $160,300 purchase of a John Deere 410 backhoe loader after city mechanics determined an older one needed to be replaced.
In addition to the spending approved, the council also welcomed a $1 million urban forestry grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and agreed to seek more than $1.7 million in new grant funding.
A $1,222,956 grant sought from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program is “for active transportation and pedestrian safety improvements” between South Sitgreaves Street in Downtown and West Madison Street on South Side, and between South Third Street and Delaware Canal State Park.
The council earlier in September approved applying for a $728,475 grant from the same program for a proposed pedestrian bridge over the Lehigh River, from Larry Holmes Drive to the Delaware Canal park. Related to that, the city is looking for feedback on the proposal, through a survey available here.
Another $500,000 in grant funding is sought by the city from the Pennsylvania Local Share Account supported by casino gambling. This money would go toward equipment at a 12,000-square-foot Valley Health Partners medical office in the commercial portion of the Mill at Easton, 620 Coal St., the mayor said.