Day Questions Secrecy About Allentown NIZ Report

April 1, 2025

HARRISBURG – Rep. Gary Day (R-Lehigh) today questioned why a Legislative Budget and Finance Committee (LBFC) report about the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) will be kept confidential.

"The growth in Allentown has been extraordinary, but it's baffling that the details of this report remain hidden," said Day. "All of us in the Lehigh Valley should expect to know what it contains, whatever the results."

The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, a bipartisan panel of state lawmakers, at its March 24 meeting, considered a motion to release the interim report to the public, but the vote on the motion was tied, preventing the report from being released. The committee’s six Republican members voted to release the report, while the six Democrat members opposed the report’s release.

LBFC reports offer recommendations to the Legislature aimed at eliminating unnecessary expenditures; promoting effectiveness and efficiency in government; and assuring taxpayer dollars are being expended in accordance with legislative intent and law.

The Allentown NIZ, which has seen more than $500 million invested within the zone during the past decade, has come under increased scrutiny for a lack of transparency about how it operates and those overseeing it locally. The improvement zone designation allows nearly all state tax revenues generated by the new development in the zone to be used by those in the zone to pay off debt of the new development.

"The Lehigh Valley is owed transparency, yet the vote to hide the NIZ report denies it,” Day said. “Our institutions must trust the people just as we, the people, trust our institutions. I don't understand... the question everybody should be asking about this is what are the Democrats trying to hide."

Representative Gary Day
187th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Chris Comisac
717-772-9845
ccomisac@pahousegop.com
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