In plenty of time before the November 4 township council elections, our “valued partner” (their words, not mine) at Bethlehem Landfill has provided both a flashy, high gloss mailer and a “newsletter” filled with egregious, fear-mongering misinformation about the dangers of not letting them expand their smelly, vulture-attracting landfill over 275 acres of pristine woodland and in proximity to the Lehigh River. Of those 275 acres, 86 would be used for actual waste disposal and the rest for ancillary support activities.
The purpose here is clearly to encourage Lower Saucon Township voters to vote for Township Council candidates who will support their Phase V Expansion. Apparently, since the frankly dubious figures that had been produced by previous Council leadership didn’t manage to accomplish the goal of getting approval for Phase V Expansion, this time Bethlehem Landfill went the route of hiring Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting Solutions (SACS) to produce an “independent” study of the future of the Landfill (hereafter called the Dump, because that’s really what it is). You might want to take the word “independent” with a grain of salt since Bethlehem Landfill admits they paid for the study and SACS admits in their report that “Lower Saucon Township did not engage SACS to prepare this report.” SACS further admits that they did not interview Township staff nor did they have access “to internal Township data that could have an impact on the assumptions used to build the models and consequently the projections.” That statement is telling and important.
Up front, let me stipulate that I have no objections to the format of the models that SACS produced nor to their assumptions about inflation rates and publicly available past revenue and expense history of the Township. They apparently can do arithmetic just as well as I can. I also agree with their huge, broadbrush conclusions about what will happen to LST’s finances when the Dump closes. But they are just that – broadbrush. And that is where using this report to scare township residents reeks of misinformation and gaslighting.
Evaluating Scary Statements
Let’s look at some of those “scary” statements and what they and the SACS report leave out.
- From the Dump’s newsletter: “Without this critical revenue stream, the Township would face severe budget shortfalls, forcing sharp increases in property taxes and reductions in essential services as early as 2029.” The Dump seems to have forgotten something. Even their own hired guns concluded that the loss of Host Fees revenues could create those problems “unless another significant and reliable revenue source is identified.” Oh wait! Do you mean that the Township could increase its revenue stream to prevent such dire results? Why, yes. Yes, they could.
Let’s go back and look at some Township history when they were faced with this situation back before the Phase IV expansion was approved. The Township had been advised that the Dump would reach capacity and have to close by 2023. This warning came sometime prior to 2019. The Council at that time, apparently run by more forward-thinking leadership than what we had when the Dump tried to run the same threat in 2023, set out on a deliberate course to pay down the Township’s debt, realizing that removing the debt would also result in removing the cost of debt service and put them in a position to better manage the approaching loss of Host Fees in 2023. At the October 23, 2019, Council meeting as reported in the Council minutes from that night, Cathy Gorman, at that time the Financial Officer for the Township, said that “our debt is at zero, and this is the first time since she’s been here and she’s happy with that.” At the beginning of 2019, according to current Acting Township Manager Jay Finnigan, “LST had General Fund Bonds & Notes Payable of $979,710 and Special Tax Fund Bonds & Notes Payable of $48,520 which was paid off during 2019.” [email, Oct. 13, 2025]
So in a year with Council commitment to the goal of paying off all debt, they managed to take more than $1,000,000 worth of debt down to zero. Now while it’s true that we don’t have $1 million worth of debt that we can get off our books, we can certainly be as innovative and committed as that Council was to finding ways to either reduce expenses and/or increase revenue.
- From the “newsletter” – “Cash reserves will be depleted, leaving no financial cushion for emergencies.” Oh, this scary statement is true alright, but what it doesn’t say is that that will happen by 2040 if 1) no additional revenue is identified and received by the Township, 2) no expenditures are reduced or omitted by the Township, and 3) there are no changes at all to the assumptions that the “independent” report used. Ask yourself, how likely do you think any of those assumptions are? Are you planning on electing Council members who will just sit on their hands and do NOTHING for 15 years and watch our cash reserves be depleted? I hope not because I wouldn’t want to live in a township filled with such irresponsible dunderheads.
And here’s where the fact that SACS had no access to Township information comes in. SACS said that they didn’t use 2024 audited financial statements because at the time they prepared the report, they were not complete, so they had to use 2023. Fair enough. But we have 2024’s audited financial statements and it includes this sentence in [my bolding] “FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS”. “Lower Saucon Township also has three housing developments in process: Long Ridge, Steel Club, and Spring Valley developments. In total they will add a significant amount of housing to Lower Saucon Township.” Ah-ha! So right there we have a reliable and consistent source of additional revenue that will be added to the Township’s revenue stream. But it’s not reflected in the SACS report. There is no apparent bump-up in revenue in the years following 2025 to show the increased property tax and Earned Income Tax that will be realized from those new properties. And do you honestly believe that those will be the last developments approved within LST between now and 2040? No, neither do I. And I’ll also hasten to point out that those increased revenues from those new developments will begin to be collected BEFORE the Host Fees run out so for those few years, we’ll actually be adding to our cash reserves.
- Here’s the really big scary headline that both the “newsletter” and the mailer trumpeted: “For a home assessed at $175,000, this means an annual tax increase of $1,060.” Holy moly! That’s horrible! Horrible yes, but not true. It depends on all of the bogus assumptions we’ve already discussed – no additional reliable revenue, no reduction in expenses, and no changes in the financial situation of the township, county, state or nation that would affect the Township. And before you say, wait, that last one wouldn’t matter, I’ll remind you that the COVID crisis of 2020 dumped a ton of money from the Federal government into the Township’s coffers that was used for extravagant bonus payments to staff and the funding of a more than $3 million, completely unnecessary baseball field. In addition, there is no date attached to that assumption of a giant tax increase. Does that happen in 2028? In 2040? Somewhere in between? Since we have no information on sourcing, there’s no answer to that question.
Also of interest regarding this statement is the fact that it doesn’t come from the SACS
First, your township property tax is the smallest of the property taxes that you pay. It is 4.24 mils. Your county tax rate is 10.8 mils. Your school tax rate is 55.2 mils. That means you pay 13 times more to the school district than you do to the township. And county and school district taxes have absolutely NOTHING to do with the township tax calculation.
Second, since they offer no source for their calculations, let me share some figures with which I’m personally familiar. The implication of their statement is that somehow a $175,000 assessment is an assessment that most homeowners currently have or perhaps that it’s some kind of median assessment. I know of a property assessed at $83,800 that has a market value of approximately $550,000. Its township property tax totals $355.31. I would definitely say it falls somewhere in the middle of the cost of houses in LST. There are certainly some that are incredibly more expensive and likewise some that are far more affordable. Based on those numbers, the implication from the Dump’s numbers is that a house assessed at $175,000 would be valued at $1.15 million. How many of you reading this actually believe your house is worth $1.15 million if you have an “average” house with an assessment of $175,000 in the Township and that you would therefore be facing a $1,060 tax increase? Or looking at it another way, if you are living in a house that’s worth $1.15 million, would a tax increase of $1,060 really be that much of a hardship?
The bottom line is that this number was pulled out of thin air (or perhaps someone’s orifice) in order to scare you.
Other Thoughts and Considerations
- Here’s something to consider. Doing the reverse calculations and based on the tonnage and host fees from the SACS report, Bethlehem Landfill stands to collect over $1 billion (with a “b”) in revenue between 2028 and 2045 from the Dump. Out of that, LST will see $63 million (with an “m”) in new revenue in exchange for lower property values, noise from trucks, blasting and rock crushing operations, increased pollution, increased odors, runoff and vultures, all while having to police an operation that currently has outstanding DEP violations. Aren’t they generous!
- What happens at the end of the Phase V expansion? Do they want to expand again? Are they just going to keep creating a gigantic garbage mountain where no one can or will want to live? Bethlehem Landfill has used a variety of bully tactics to try to get the Phase V expansion through. We know what happens when you cave to bullies. They don’t go away; they just demand more. Is this what you want for your children and grandchildren or your own retirement going forward?
Some Forward-thinking Ideas
- Years ago, back before the 2023 push by the Dump for Phase V expansion, probably around 2019, there was some promising talk on Council about pursuing business development ideas for the Township. There was even talk of hiring a consultant to consider growth and development in commercial/light industrial areas along Route 378, Route 412 and Easton Road as well as residential development. Of course, once the Dump showed up with an easy out, Council leadership at that time simply dumped (get it?) the idea which would have caused them to do actual work and to pursue innovative thinking. There’s no reason why, with a committed and forward-thinking Council, those business and residential development ideas can’t be revisited, perhaps with the assistance of a business development consultant.
- And here’s a really innovative idea. The Township controls quite a bit of land already and has several millions of dollars stashed away for additional land purchase. Doing some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, a 25 MW (megawatt) solar farm would require about 100-125 acres for installation, certainly available within the Township. A solar farm that size could provide enough power for 4100-4200 homes. Based on current electrical rates and installation costs, a 25 MW solar farm could deliver net revenue to the township of about $2.2 million per year. With Pennsylvania’s increasing openness to community solar, a solar farm could provide an ongoing, reliable source of revenue to the Township that is clean and not at all attractive to vultures.
So you see, there are all kinds of possibilities out there that belie the scariness and the gaslighting of the Dump’s claims.
Upcoming Election
It’s up to you to find out where the candidates in the November 4 election stand on expanding the Dump. (You are planning on voting, right?) Saucon Shenanigans endorses Chad Heimbecker and Hunter Gress for Township Council. They have both taken solid stances in opposition to the Dump expansion.
The positions of the two women running for Township Council are murky at best.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025 – General Election – Polls open 7 AM to 8 PM