Should Voters Have Say When Government Goes Into Debt?

By Jack Tobias

Think big commercial project. Maybe something even as big as Coca-Cola Park, home of baseball's IronPigs.

Should voters have a say when government goes into debt for a private, for-profit project?

Lehigh County voters will make that decision Tuesday, when they will be asked in a ballot question if future public-private debt issues must get voter approval before they can move ahead.

The change would not cover financing for traditional government projects such as bridge repair and other infrastructure improvements. Those would continue to be decided by elected officials.

"It adds another hurdle if government wants to get into major debt," county commissioner Tom Creighton III, a Republican from Lynn Township who is supporting the measure, said of the ballot question.

Creighton credits former county commissioner Dean Browning with being the "author" of the initiative. 

Browning says Lehigh and Northampton counties passed resolutions in fall 2011 supporting a state House bill amending an act on local government and debt. Browning and Creighton, joined by then-Lehigh County commissioner Andy Roman, introduced the county proposal to allow the ballot question, but because the state House did not pass its bill by the end of 2011, the county measure had to be tabled.

The House bill was passed in October 2012 and signed into law that same month by Gov. Tom Corbett, Browning says.

Creighton points out that one reason the change in state law was needed is that Lehigh County is one of six home-rule counties in the state (Northampton is another one). The state measure allowed home-rule counties to authorize ballot questions, he said.

Creighton says Lehigh is the only home-rule county he knows of to so far place a ballot question that would give voters more of a say on debt issues.

The question, he said, puts Lehigh County "at a new frontier" when it comes to voters having more of a say.

Patch asked Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.(and former Lehigh County executive and Bethlehem mayor), about the ballot question. Cunningham, a Democrat, was county executive when the bonds financing Coca-Cola Park were issued.

He said LVEDC "has no position on the issue. We typically wouldn't formulate a position on a ballot question unless it directly affects economic development."

He also said, "I'm not telling county residents how to vote on the referendum."

But Cunningham added, "If asked for my personal opinion after 18 years in elected office, I believe that it's the role of elected leaders to lead on issues like taking on debt for major capital projects and the role of voters to decide whether someone is worthy of their office.

"If we put everything to a referendum, we take our elected leaders off the hook so that they become followers more than leaders. A referendum is a public opinion poll and often times leading requires driving against that moment's popular public opinion. It's very possible that no major public improvement project would get built if we did it by a referendum poll."

Creighton, meanwhile, says he knows of no organized opposition to the ballot question. But he admits some voters may simply oppose it.

"It's possible people will say we don't want any control -- let politicians handle it," he says.

The ballot question asks the following:

Shall the Lehigh County Home Rule Charter be amended to add a new section requiring voter approval for issuance by the County of "private activity bonds," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, or of taxable "lease rental debt," as defined by the Pennsylvania Local Government Unit Debt Act?

The younger Creighton, representing Lehigh County's District 1, is seeking re-election. His opponent is Democrat Bill Leiner Jr. of Coplay borough.