ALLENTOWN, PA– Lehigh and Northampton Counties today announced a joint initiative to strengthen review of regional organizations and other outside entities receiving significant county taxpayer support. The effort will begin with a comprehensive independent review of the counties’ financial and organizational relationships with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission following significant funding increase requests received after the budget process began.
The bi-county examination will evaluate the Commission’s funding structure, expenditures, staffing, employee retention, operational efficiency, governance, and overall value delivered to Lehigh Valley taxpayers and municipalities. The counties intend for this effort to help establish a consistent framework for evaluating significant county funding relationships, including regional organizations and grant-funded entities, rather than focusing exclusively on any single organization.
The joint effort is a decisive response to local budgetary challenges that require rigorous evaluation of the utilization of every taxpayer dollar to determine their efficiency, effectiveness and return on investment. Both counties share a responsibility to ensure public funds are utilized transparently and properly advance the goals and objectives of both administrations.
In the last two years, LVPC’s budgetary request of Lehigh County has increased by almost 100%. Their funding request grew from $605,000 in 2024 to nearly $1.2 million in 2027 with their 2027 request to Northampton County nearing $1.5 million.
“Regional planning and strategic development of county land is vital to the future of the Lehigh Valley’s quality of life and livability, but when organizations request millions from county taxpayers, we owe them complete transparency and accurate answers about scope and scale of our investment. Now is the time to ask hard questions about the appropriate level of support for LVPC and whether potential savings could be better deployed elsewhere to better serve the needs of county residents,” said Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel. “By partnering with Northampton County, we are taking a unified approach to ensure the LVPC is operating as efficiently, cost-effectively, and accountably as possible.”
“As an elected official, I am beholden to the taxpayers and, in a year when a tax increase is the inevitable outcome of deferred funding of employees, infrastructure and programs, we have to scrutinize where funds are being allocated. The LVPC’s budget request has increased year after year and we are just asking for transparency as to why the two County contributions need to exceed $1 million each,” said Zrinski, “It is difficult to justify these amounts without an independent external review to show why state and federal funding as well as fees require the Counties to keep being tapped,” said Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski.
Scope of Review – 2022-2026
The bi-county review will provide an objective assessment of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s current operations, financial practices, organizational capacity, service delivery, and governance structure. The review will be designed to inform future planning and support continued coordination among the participating counties, municipalities, and regional partners.
Key Areas of Examination
The bi-county review will evaluate several core operational and financial areas:
- Financial Management & Sustainability: Review of the organization’s funding sources, financial position, expenditure patterns, administrative and program costs, facilities, utilization of consultants and professional services and approaches used to allocate county support.
- Organizational & Operational Efficiency: Reviewing staffing capacity, management structures, potential duplication with county or state functions, and performance as it relates to the alignment of the core mission and expertise within the LVPC.
- Workforce Stability & Retention: Assessing staffing patterns, vacancies, recruitment costs and retention practices
- Service Delivery Impact and Regional Support: Measuring specific deliverables provided to municipalities, including project turnaround times, municipal technical assistance, development reviews, transportation coordination and other regional initiatives as they align with their core mission
- Governance & Intergovernmental Relations: Assessing the two-county governance structure, accountability mechanisms, board representation, oversight, and the relationship between the LVPC and the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study as well coordination between counties, municipalities and stakeholders
Facts-First Approach
The counties also recognize that the LVPC is a highly regarded, award winning regional planning organization with a long record of service to both counties and all 62 municipalities in the Lehigh Valley. Its work has received state and national recognition, and FutureLV is among the first regional plans in the nation to fully integrate land use, economic development, housing, preservation and transportation planning. The purpose of this review is not to diminish that record or the organization’s important regional role, but to ensure that its funding structure and operations remain sustainable, transparent and accountable to taxpayers.
County leaders emphasized that the joint review is intended to gather objective facts and identify operational improvements, not to presume wrongdoing or dismiss the necessity of regional planning.
To ensure complete objectivity, the counties are evaluating the joint engagement of an independent organizational and financial review team to conduct the analysis, perform benchmarking against peer planning bodies, and execute confidential employee surveys.
“The goal here is accountability, not accusation,” added Tara Zrinski, Northampton County Executive “Neither County is approaching this with a predetermined outcome. If the review demonstrates that additional investment yields measurable public benefit, that is critical data. If it highlights opportunities to streamline operations, cut costs, or adjust the funding model, that is equally vital. We intend to follow the facts.”
Lehigh and Northampton Counties expect to finalize the formal scope of work in the coming months and will provide further updates as they move forward.
Information provided to TVL by:
Hillary Kleinz
