New York City based Skyline Investment Group has been working to redevelop the long-abandoned Dixie Cup Factory for over a year. Work is underway, but the company’s request for a Tax Increment Financing plan to assist with the $185 million cost was shot down at Northampton County Council’s meeting on Thursday night.
The Council voted 5-4 against the $26 million dollar TIF, which would have allowed for future real estate gains to be used now for redevelopment costs. Democrats Ron Heckman and Lori Vargo Heffner joined Republicans John Brown, Tom Giovanni, and John Goffredo in opposition.
County Executive Lamont McClure released a statement following the vote, saying that the decision shows how “out of touch” the Council is with “the residents they represent.”
Both Wilson Borough and the Wilson Area School District voted in favor of the TIF, leaving the final decision to the County Council.
Under the TIF, Skyline would have paid taxes on the more-than 10-acre property’s current value, but would not have been required to pay the reassessed tax value on the completed property for 20 years.
The Commissioners opposed said they felt “shut out of the process,” called it an unfair tax break, and said Skyline should be contributing more to local affordable housing efforts. The TIF would have required the developer to pay $1 million to the county rather than including affordable housing units in the building. In his statement, McClure argued that the Council is forfeiting that million dollars that could have been invested in countywide affordable housing.
McClure called the Council “the most useless county council in home rule history,” saying that they failed to accept a “straightforward plan” that would have brought progress and opportunity.
Brian Bartree of Skyline Development said the project will still move forward, and that the vote merely shows who supports the project and who doesn’t.
