Lehigh County is looking to save costs from tax assessment appeals.

Commissioner Antonio Pineda, a bill co-sponsor said he supports this initiative “as a way to prevent wasting of taxpayer resources and county resources.”

Pineda reported data indicate that people make appeals without meaning to complete the process, such as not showing up for appointments; “60-75 percent are no-shows a year, 40-50 percent that aren’t serious applications, and on average, the cost of administrating the process of these appeals is $200 to $350 per appeal.”

Pineda said, “This is wasting taxpayer dollars, on top of the fact that it is wasting hours for employees of the count, as well as resources of the count.”

He said he believes this bill will help prevent waste of taxpayer resources, encouraging individuals to take the whole appeal process seriously.

Reeves supported Pineda’s argument about the waste attributed to individuals who are no-shows at their appeals. “By adding a small fee, we take away that motive for people to use this as a way to charge clients a fee for really something that they never intended on doing because those are the ones that we find the majority of the no-shows before they file, multiple reassessments for clients and then never show up to actually defend those,” according to Reeves.

Commissioner Ron Beitler did not fully agree with his colleagues, explaining that he was “sympathetic to the points brought-up by the sponsors, and also appreciative of their work to massage this a little bit to make it more palpable. I would be totally supportive of a rate protocol that would charge for folks of no-show.”

He was the only commissioner to vote against the bill.

2023 Allocation Plan for the Opiod Settlement

Commissioner Bob Elbich, sponsor of the 2023 allocation plan for the Opioid Settlement Steering Committee, said there have been changes in data he recently received that could affect the 18-year initiative, which is fixed. The changes being brought forth by the bill are procedural in nature, “not content, validity or significance,” he explained.

Chair Geoff Brace said he’s very supportive of building and providing MAT (Medication-Assisted Treatment) services in county facilities. “I think we need to get ourselves there quickly, but while we are setting budgets, we need to make sure that not only are the funds available, we have all our T’s crossed, our I’s dotted.”

Brace said the reallocation of funds would be targeted to help the Northern Lehigh Opioid Treatment Facility. Specifically, it would expand family coaching services for families affected by opioid-related issues, mobile therapy services, as well as support the toxicology work of the coroner’s office, as well as data collection to ensure the work of the county is making a difference.