With the COVID-19 pandemic going nowhere any time soon, Lehigh Valley cities and municipalities are doing what they can to ensure they're adequately staffed for the coming winter.
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Contractors help Easton, Phillipsburg with snow removal. Bethlehem pleads for patience. (PHOTOS)
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
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This week’s snowfall, the second-biggest accumulation on record in the Lehigh Valley, is stretching plow crews to their limits.
In Easton and Phillipsburg, that has meant bringing in contractors to assist with removing the snow clogging streets and alleys.
“This is historic,” Phillipsburg Mayor Todd Tersigni said Wednesday, about 24 hours after the storm subsided. “This is the 25-year event. There was no other way.”
To hire contractors with loaders and dump trucks, Easton and Phillipsburg are competing with neighboring municipalities to bring in whatever extra help is available, Easton officials said in an update Wednesday. The city was able to hire eight contractors.
Bethlehem passes budget with 5% tax hike and new stormwater fee
Updated Dec 16, 2020;
Bethlehem City Council Tuesday night backed a 5% tax increase to help the city weather the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and created a new stormwater fee.
The $87.4 million spending plan cuts six jobs through attrition and means the average homeowner of a home with an assessed value of $50,000 would pay $46 more a year in city taxes.
It passed in a 6-1 vote with Councilman Bryan Callahan dissenting due to the tax hike and cuts to the city fire department through attrition.
The budget includes no new jobs or programs. It cuts four firefighters from each city platoon as well as two Bethlehem Service Center employees, estimated to save $500,000 annually in salary and benefits. Bethlehem’s workforce will drop to a low of 588 people, from a high of 670 back in 2010.