Salisbury Township municipal and school district coffers stand to lose approximately $26,000 in combined tax revenue annually starting in 2018 because of the relocation of about 500 workers from a medical office-building complex in the township to a new office building in center city Allentown.

According to Salisbury Township Manager Cathy Bonaskiewich, the township municipal government expects to lose about $21,000 and Salisbury Township School District stands to lose about $5,000 in the move.

Lehigh Valley Health Network announced it is relocating about 500 Information Services, Enterprise Analytics and Clinical Informatics employees to offices at Three City Center, part of Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, beginning in November.

The LVHN employees work in offices in the 1245 and 1247 buildings in Cedar Crest Professional Park, 1255 S. Cedar Crest Boulevard, Salisbury Township, which is across the highway from Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest.

It’s expected that as of Nov. 1, about 350 LVHN employees will be relocated from the Cedar Crest Professional Park in Salisbury to two floors of Three City Center, 645 Hamilton St., Allentown. An additional 125 LVHN employees are expected to occupy a third floor in Three City Center by June 2018. Three City Center is on the north side of Hamilton Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, Allentown.

“The impact of workers moving from the Salisbury Township site to the City of Allentown would affect the local services tax, which is equivalent to $52 per year maximum, of which the Salisbury Township School District receives $10, withheld by employers and paid to the municipality/district in which the employer is located,” Bonaskiewich said in an email response to a Press reporter’s query about the financial impact in tax revenue alone of the LVHN employees move from the township.

“If they [LVHN] estimate 500 employees are moving, that’s $26,000, $21,000 for the township, and $5,000 for the school district,” Bonaskiewich stated. “If more employees are moved, then the impact would be greater. However, we don’t know what further plans LVHN has.”

Bonaskiewich noted the earned income tax is based on the municipality-district in which the employee resides. That wouldn’t be affected.

The LVHN employees are to move into 81,000 square feet of office space on floors two, three and four of Three City Center, an increase in office space from the 70,000 square feet that LVHN leases in two buildings in Cedar Crest Professional Park.

LVHN employees will be relocated upon expiration of LVHN leases at Cedar Crest Professional Park. A long-term lease at Three City Center was approved by LVHN’s Board of Trustees.

In a statement announcing the LVHN employee relocation, Brian Nester, DO, MBA, LVHN’s president and chief executive officer, stated, “Thanks to favorable lease rates offered through the NIZ, LVHN will be able to reduce network operating expenses with this move.”

“It gives us the opportunity to move into state-of-the-art, energy-efficient office space, which will result in even more cost savings. It also helps us to establish more of an LVHN presence in the downtown Allentown area,” Nester said.

In addition to Lehigh Valley Hospital - 17th Street, LVHN in 2014 opened a 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art sports medicine, sports performance and fitness location at One City Center, a seven-story office building adjacent to the PPL Center arena. It occupies five floors and includes sports performance, sports medicine, sports nutrition, concussion management and rehabilitation services. Since then, several LVHN departments have moved to office space at One City Center, where about 450 LVHN employees work.

LVHN has about 17,600 employees.

Lehigh Valley Health Network includes eight hospital campuses, three in Allentown, including the region’s only facility dedicated to orthopedic surgery; one in Bethlehem; one in East Stroudsburg; one in Hazleton, and two in Pottsville; 18 health centers in seven counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices and 12 ExpressCARE locations in the region; pharmacy, imaging, home health services and lab services; inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services and provider services through Valley Preferred.