More On Easton's NID Proposal

Next Wednesday, June 8, at 6 p.m., the first, and possibly only, public presentation and hearing of the Greater Easton Development Partnership's (GEDP) proposal to create a (NID) will be held at the Easton City Council meeting.

Moved from it's usual location in the city hall, legal notice was given of the venue switch on May 31, just eight days before the meeting, that the event will take place in the Crayola auditorium instead.

Though postmarked May 5, it has come to our attention that the mailing advising property owners and renters of the impending meeting and proposal consideration is just reaching many of the intended recipients, and in some cases, particularly when it comes to residential tenants, may have gone astray.

To better prepare and inform the public of what the proposal entails, here is a summary.

The full text of the proposal may be found on GEDP's website.

What's in the GEDP's proposal

To encompass the entire historic Downtown district of the City of Easton, the NID would be called the “Downtown Easton Neighborhood Improvement District” and would, , be considered a “mixed-use improvement district” encompassing both commercial and residential properties.

All taxable properties, regardless of use, would pay a fee to the NID management association (NIDMA), proposed to be the GEDP itself, and the monies initially used to partially fund the Ambassadors program and the Easton Main Street Initiative. Other programs and/or capital improvements might also be funded with NID fees at a later date, at GEDP's discretion.

For all taxable properties located in the district, the proposed NID rate is 6.95 mills, or $347.50 annually for a property assessed at $50,000. This would be in addition to regular municipal property and school taxes, in Easton for 2010, 24.95 and 51.122 mills respectively.

(A full list of all properties in the proposed NID and what their estimated NID fees would be is included in the proposal.)

All properties that are not subject to property tax would also be exempt from being assessed or paying a NID fee, though they would be encouraged to contribute.

The budget for the first year of the proposed NID estimates costs of $307,581, which includes funding the Easton Ambassadors in the amount of $205,157, or two-thirds of the total NID budget. The remaining $102,424 would go to the Easton Main Street Initiative.

According to attached information, the Ambassadors program costs $271,320 annually, and the Easton Main Street Initiative costs $282,105 annually, with EMSI administration funding at $127,920 and $154,185 used for programming.

The remaining $245,844 needed to cover the full amount of the two programs is listed as coming from “Other Sources.” (sic)

The proposal allows for the NIDMA to shift funding at its “sole discretion” in future years.

Funding for the NID is expected to come from three sources—NID fees on taxable Downtown properties, voluntary contributions from tax-exempt properties, and voluntary contributions from non-property owning non-profit organizations.

Assessed NID fees from the 508 taxable properties in the district are estimated to raise $273,581. An additional $35,000 in expected contributions would make up the rest of the budget.

Increases to the NID fee under the proposal would be also at the sole discretion of GEDP. According to the proposal, the number of increases in the fee would be limited to eight increases over the five-year term of the NID, with a cap of 5 percent per increase.

Property owners would be invoiced annually for their assessed NID fees by GEDP, and would be permitted to pay installments, however, if the payments become overdue, the property owner would be assessed interest at the current legal rate.

According to the proposal, “If the property owner fails to pay any installment for a period of 90 days after it is due, the City may accelerate the annual assessment, and interest will accrue at the then current legal rate on the entire annual assessment from the date the installment was due. These amounts will become a lien on the property from the due date of the fist installment. Liens on the property will be filed by the City.”

As the NIDMA, the GEDP would also be empowered to:

• Employ an executive director or administrator and any necessary supporting staff

• Prepare planning or feasibility studies or contract for the preparation of such to determine needed capital improvements or administrative programs and services.

• Make capital improvements or provide administrative programs and services within a NID.

• Solicit in-kind services or financial contributions from tax-exempt property owners within the NID. This may include entering into voluntary multi-year agreements between the NIDMA and tax-exempt property owners located within an NID.

If there are no changes and the plan as proposed on June 8 is considered a final draft of the plan, the law does not require a second hearing. If changes or revisions are made to the preliminary plan, a second hearing is required to be held.

According to Pennsylvania NID law, property owners will be considered to have approved the implementation of a NID unless they protest the establishment of the district in writing. Such letters must be received in the city clerk's office within 45 days of the last public meeting on the matter.

If 40 percent or more of property owners within the district protest the establishment of the NID, the proposal will be considered to be defeated.

Under the NID Act, GEDP will automatically be named the NIDMA, as per their request, unless again, 40 percent of property owners protest the organization specifically from being named the NIDMA.

The term of the NID proposal is five years, with an option for the city to renew the ordinance when the term is completed.

During that time, if established, the NID may only be dissolved by an act of Easton City Council, prompted by 40 percent of all property owners in the district calling for such a dissolution in writing.

If approved and adopted by the city council, the NID would be established soon after the proper ordinance establishing the NID is adopted, most likely before year's end.

For more about NIDs and their establishment, please see and “”