How did Lehigh Valley referendum questions turn out?

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Here are the results of three referendums on Lehigh Valley ballots in Tuesday’s election.

Allentown 

A majority of Allentown voters (54%) approved a referendum that will allow the city to increase the deed transfer tax.

Voters were asked whether to remove the tax, set at a 1966 level of 0.5% on all property sales, from the Home Rule Charter. The vote was 19,990 for yes and 16,982 for no, according to unofficial results.

The city will now be able to reinstate the tax at a higher level, possibly 1%. The additional money would help the city pay for services and possibly assist homebuyers.

The Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors opposed the initiative, saying the ballot question was “misleading” and, if approved, would lead to higher property prices.

Northampton County

In Northampton County, 85.5% of the voters approved a term limit for the district attorney of no more than four consecutive four-year terms starting in January 2028. The vote was 112,655 to 119,140, according to unofficial results.

Last November, voters also by significant majorities approved term limits of 83% for executive, 84% for controller and 84% for council.

The executive and controller can serve no more than two consecutive four-year terms while council members are limited to three consecutive four-year terms. The term limits for the controller and council began this year while the executive’s will start in 2026.

Chapman

Voters in Chapman, with only 223 residents and 148 registered voters, overwhelmingly rejected a plan to reduce the number of council members from seven to three.

The vote in the Northampton County borough was 79-27 against the idea, according to unofficial results. Borough council proposed the referendum because of the possible difficulty in getting people to serve on council in the future.

Allentown pushes deed transfer tax referendum that Realtors group calls ‘misleading’

Voters in tiny Chapman Borough to decide whether to shrink size of council

Northampton County voters to consider setting DA term limit