At its Nov. 6 meeting, the Northampton County Council voted 5-4 against approving a tax increment financing (TIF) district proposal that would have supported plans to redevelop the long-vacant Dixie Cup site in Wilson Borough.

The proposed 20-year TIF district would have redirected future tax revenue growth to support the redevelopment project.

Supporters emphasized the project’s potential to revitalize an underutilized property, create local jobs, and create private investment. For example, Wilson Area School Board member Judy Herbstreith said, “The Wilson Area School District is supportive of Skyline’s (Easton-based Skyline Investment Group) TIF request because it will mean the building will reclaim its glory. It is truly a magnificent building. Skyline respectfully acknowledges the historical and cultural contribution of the Dixie Cup within the community and will preserve the original Dixie Cup within the planned renovation.”

Grace Hurd, who was recently elected to Wilson Borough Council, said, “At the polls and in conversations across the borough, the Dixie project came up more than any other topic. What I heard was a shared sense of hope and pride that after decades of stagnation, real progress is finally underway. The momentum is real and residents want to see it continue.

“The TIF is not a handout. It’s a partnership tool when it allows all three taxing bodies (the county, Wilson Borough and Wilson Area School District) to share in both the responsibility and the long-term benefit of the redevelopment.”

But according to council vice chair John Goffredo, the potential tax impact of a TIF is too big a risk for the county to take on right now. “I think [the site] will get rehabbed, but I will not support cutting taxes for a developer and then increasing the taxes countywide,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a budget that we’re not paying pensions for our employees this year. I forecast that we’re going to have to increase taxes next year.”

Wilson resident James Bondro also voiced opposition to the TIF. “A lot of the older people in the neighborhood, who have paid their taxes in a timely manner, it doesn’t seem fair to them to have somebody come in and get a big tax break for 20 years. [The] people making the concessions should be the seller and the buyer. It shouldn’t be coming down to a TIF.”

Jeff Warren, Jeff Corpora, Kelly Keegan and Ken Kraft voted yes, while Goffredo, Thomas Giovanni, Ron Heckman, John Brown, and Lori Vargo Heffner opposed.

Vargo Heffner responded to remarks by members of the public accusing council of dragging its collective feet on the redevelopment of the Dixie Cup site. “We’ve been waiting for the [industrial development authority] to get this document to us all year. We have no authority over the IDA. The IDA canceled several meetings this year before it could be presented. My understanding of this document is that the former owner of this building still has a finger in it. And he’s the one that’s let this building get to this point. And the borough had plenty of opportunity to go after him and file things against him and they didn’t,” she said.

The meeting also featured emotional testimony about funding delays impacting contracted county health services providers.

Forks Township resident Alicia Austin, an employee of a contracted company for Northampton County Early Intervention Services, described ongoing payment delays since September.

“The therapists are growing anxious about how long we can keep going and families are terrified that their children, their babies, are going to lose access to the trusted therapists who have helped them make so much progress. We want to do our jobs, but it costs us. We are spending gas money, putting miles on our cars, and giving countless hours to support families, wondering when our financial wells are going to run dry,” she said.

Meanwhile, Northampton County Election Commission Vice Chairman Scott Hough reported to council that the county’s administration failed to notify the commission about 2025 election cycle problems, such as improper mail-in ballots going out to voters in Easton and a legal challenge involving the Nazareth School Board race ballot.

Hough expressed frustration that the election commission often learns about these issues from the public, candidates or the media, and that efforts by commission members to hold special meetings “to discuss matters of election integrity and process” were denied.

According to Michael Colón, the county’s acting director of administration, when the commission requested the meeting, the commission’s solicitor, register of elections and administration were unavailable due to preparations for Election Day.

Colón pledged that the misunderstandings and logistical challenges would be addressed during the next election committee meeting Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. in the council chambers.