Allentown's Inescapable Problem: Revenue

I am aware a lot of people like a short read and want to skip the details. If your one of those readers just skip to the SUMMARY below.


The word came down on Thursday, March 7, 2013 that the Allentown School District could cut as many as 150 more teachers next year. 400 positions were previously cut over the last 3 years. I'm not sure if this is such a peachy idea. It makes you wonder how much they can pare down before all your left with is a pit.

Couple that with the Allentown's PILOT committee statement that 29% of Allentown's real estate properties are held by non-profits. What I found even more enlightening was what Jeannette Eichenwald said. She stated that Allentown responds 20 to 30 times a week to Muhlenberg College.



Now I don't mind putting into the pot, but 20 to 30 calls a week for a tax exempt entity, c'mon!

29% of the properties not paying taxes isn't Allentown's only problem when it comes to revenue. In 2010 the median sales price of existing homes in the Lehigh Valley was $224,000. In Allentown the median value is $143,800. The median total household income is $35,737 with 25.8% living below the poverty level. This compares with 12.3 % living below the poverty level. $54,312 being the median household income and the median home price of $206,100 within Lehigh County as a whole.

Skew in yet another factor. 38.9% Allentown's structures are occupied multiple units (rentals) while Lehigh County has only 24%.


SUMMARYAllentown's handicapped: If this were a horse race, Allentown wouldn't even get out of the gate until the rest of the horses were ahead 1/3 or more around the track. Our home values, non profit real estate tax exclusions, number of rentals and household incomes are all about 30% above/below the average for Lehigh County as a whole.

Throw in hundreds (if not thousands) of more acres of KOZ, NIZ, Enterprise Zone Tax Credits, city seized properties, tax delinquencies along with their pending foreclosures, special breaks for low income homebuyers and that 30% handicap ends up being much higher. The hard colds facts are Allentown suffers a 30% to 50% disadvantage compared to Lehigh County overall.

I offer no miracle cure, but given the above facts there are indicators of what Allentown must do in order to plug it's hemorrhaging tax base. If Allentown fails to get these areas under control, there is no amount of city assets that can be sold, leased nor tax increase that will fix this.

The solutions are through city policy changes in the areas of zoning, reducing the number of real estate tax exclusions/delinquencies and setting other policies that make Allentown less attractive to below poverty residents outside our area to relocate here. One of the other keys is to encourage, not discourage small private minority owned neighborhood businesses that don't fit some preconceived ethnically based agenda.

One final and most important thing Allentown city government must do: Be responsive and willing to listen to it's citizens alternative ideas. I'm not going into a bunch of details about this, but this city has ignored or opposed those who care the most about this city and/or vested their wealth. Why would successful venture capitalists wander into a city deeply rooted in politics over who receives favorable treatment and those who will not?

Still there is one more gigantic challenge facing Allentown. It's all about attitude. A vast majority consider Allentown as a place where they currently reside. Not a city they call 'HOME'. I'll leave you to sort the details out as to why that mind-set exists.